The Ultimate Weapon
by LuvversLuvvie
Summary: After Sasuke leaves, Konoha forces Naruto to become their perfect weapon through mind controlling jutsus.  Sasuke meets Naruto and resolves to save the blond from the life he is forced to live.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I own nothing and no one**

**After Sasuke leaves, Konoha forces Naruto to become their perfect weapon through mind controlling jutsus. Sasuke meets Naruto and resolves to save the blond from the life he is forced to live.**

* * *

><p>*<em>Thump<em>* *_Thump_* *_Thump_* *_Thump_* Sasuke spent years jumping through the trees of the Fire Country, so the sounds he made, inaudible for the untrained ear and near impossible to hear unless they were within 5 meters of the Uchiha, no longer bothered him but rather calmed him down. The fact that he could hear the practically silent, steady pace he kept meant that he was alone. Perfect. No one could distract him from his current mission.

Sasuke had finally fought with his brother, only to discover the truth behind the Uchiha Massacre. Itachi was innocent. At first, Sasuke wanted revenge against the village. Hell, he was ready to kill every last villager the way Itachi was forced to kill his family. But when he began preparing his bloody return, his thoughts strayed to one particular villager.

Naruto.

Memories of his time spent with the blonde were swirling in his head alongside with resurfacing feelings he thought he had repressed. Sasuke had always known that he was in love with Naruto. It was the hardest thing he had to do to leave his blonde behind in that damned valley. It took two years to successfully suppress the urge to run back to Konoha to tell Naruto exactly how he feels and to beg his love to forgive him. No. Not beg. Uchihas don't beg. Maybe ask sincerely. Naruto would understand. He always did before, right? Naruto just had to forgive him, he just HAD to.

Every time the two faced each other, Sasuke had to again suppress his urges. These times, he had to suppress taking his love into his arms just kiss those alluring lips. He had to resist simply staring into those impossible blue eyes, always filled with emotions; to apologize and take up his offer and return to the village.

But Sasuke had to take his revenge. He believed only that would satisfy him. When Sasuke learned the truth, he didn't know what to He was going to take his revenge against Konoha, but then the dobe filled his mind.

Sasuke knew he could never kill Naruto. Then he realized if he killed the villagers, he'd be killing a piece of his idiot; killing the idiot's smile.

No. Sasuke would never do anything to hurt his blonde anymore. He now regretted leaving Konoha for many reasons, but above all for hurting his Naruto. Sasuke would never forgive himself for that.

All he wanted to do was to return to that idiot. To see him smile at him once more. To maybe hold him in his arms. To finally tell him how he felt. To maybe kiss him. Sasuke knew he wouldn't be happy with just a kiss forever, but he was equally as sure that if it was Naruto, he would hold out for as long as it takes. Naruto was worth waiting for. Naruto was worth returning to the village.

So that is why the raven was headed back to the village. True, it had been years since he had any contact with anyone from his former home, but he was trusting his blonde friend was still determined to bring him back. Sasuke had also spent the last few months presenting his case to present how Itachi had been innocent all this time. Sasuke knew it was a bit of a long shot, but he was hoping that how he had killed one of the Leaf's biggest threats, Orochimaru, would help the Hokage be lenient with him. Sasuke had also been relatively inactive in his revenge since learning the truth. He was going to hunt down Danzo, but after much introspection he knew Itachi wouldn't want him to.

Sasuke had spent the past few years trying to convince himself that he didn't need to go back to Konoha. Konoha was the root of his inner turmoil. On one hand, the village elders were responsible for putting Itachi in the position where he had to kill his entire clan save for Sasuke. The village also thrived on Itachi's sacrifice. Hell, the village was _happy_ that the Uchiha clan was nearly exterminated. The elders caused all this pain and Sasuke could not forgive them for that.

On the other hand, the villagers themselves had little to do with the massacre. They accepted him when he lived there. Hell, he made _friends_ in the village. Sasuke even met his first—and only—love in the village.

Sasuke also knew how Naruto cherished Konoha. It had always been Naruto's dream to become Hokage and protect those who he loved. Naruto's loyalty to the cause of Sasuke's problems never wavered.

While Sasuke's devotion to the village often wavered, his unspoken dedication to Naruto never faltered. If Naruto loved the village so much, then Sasuke would not attack the villagers.

With a renewed vigor, Sasuke quickened his silent pace towards Konoha.

He still made sure to completely cloak his chakra and to check all around him for possible traps. His attention to detail was rewarded when he spotted a well concealed trap.

Sasuke halted before the trap, careful to give it a couple meter radius. He recognized the patterns on the paper bomb he was observing. It was a Leaf bomb. Upon closer inspection, Sasuke saw that the bomb was not meant for injury but as a signal as well as a warning. He had often helped set up these types of bombs during his time spent as a genin; this type of trap meant that a dispatched team was done with their mission and was heading back soon. With the traps set, the team could relax a bit after their mission and only assign one or two people as lookouts at a time.

Sasuke was apprehensive at the idea of seeing Leaf ninja after so many years. He quickly decided that he would see who the team was and decide what to do from there.

Sasuke would probably meet some unremembered ninja. They would probably recognize him but he would have no idea who they were. If he revealed himself then that would only bring trouble and would greatly diminish his chances of returning to the village if he were to fight the ninja. He knew that he would not reveal himself and that checking the team was probably pointless.

But Sasuke could not shake the urge to see if Naruto was a part of the team.

Sasuke knew the chances were slim to none, but he also knew that he just had to check. Even more silent than before, making sure that his chakra signature was undetectable, Sasuke crept forward towards the deployed Leaf ninja.

He moved slowly, activating his Sharingan to be better able to detect any more traps. The first bomb was barely concealed in comparison to the other traps he found and avoided. He was impressed with how well hidden the traps were. They would be invisible to Sasuke if he did not have his sharingan. Sasuke knew that meant that it was a Jounin team or higher deployed.

The traps started to get closer together, then suddenly there were no more traps around. Sasuke knew he was in the general area of the team. He took his time getting any closer to where he knew the team would be. He didn't want to mess anything up now.

Suddenly, he noticed something shift in the corner of his eye.

Sasuke halted immediately, making sure he was safely hidden behind the branches in the tree he landed in. Luckily for him, the thing he noticed did not see him yet.

Upon closer inspection, Sasuke saw that what he noticed was actually an ANBU Black Op.

Sasuke was going to wait until the ANBU left to depart himself when he noticed something about the ANBU that would have made him jump if he weren't an Uchiha.

The ANBU had blonde hair that stuck up in gravity defying spikes.

Sasuke would notice that hair anywhere.

It was Naruto.

* * *

><p><strong>Reviews make me smile a lot ;)<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Naruto and all other characters do not belong to me no matter how much I may wish otherwise.**

**Staying over at my grandmother's without any internet gives me way too much time to write ha ha!**

**Now onward with The Ultimate Weapon chapter 2!**

* * *

><p>Sasuke could not believe his eyes.<p>

He was staring at the back of his longtime love: Naruto Uzumaki.

Sasuke could not believe it. It had been so long since he's seen Naruto, yet he was the first person from the Hidden Leaf Village that Sasuke saw since deciding to come back. It was as if fate was telling Sasuke that he made the right decision.

Sasuke couldn't bring himself to be revealed just yet so he remained hidden; drinking in whatever part of Naruto he could see.

Naruto's back was turned to him so he didn't have much to go on, but he could tell that Naruto had changed since they last met a couple of years ago. Naruto was taller, though a couple of inches shorter than Sasuke from what he could tell. Naruto was still slim. He had a slightly petite figure that Sasuke used to tease him about. It used to be well hidden underneath the baggie orange jumpsuit he would constantly wear, but Naruto's slender figure was very pronounced in the form-fitting ANBU uniform he now wore. Naruto's hair had gotten a little longer, but not by much. His hair still shone brightly, despite it being near the evening. Sasuke could never figure out how Naruto's blonde locks could capture and enhance any ray of sunshine the way they still did.

Naruto now wore an ANBU uniform, and Sasuke saw the traditional tattoo on Naruto's upper arm he knew all other ANBU members had upon initiation. Sasuke was inwardly proud of his best friend for being recognized as the elite ninja Sasuke always knew he was.

While Sasuke drank in all of Naruto's features, he noticed that something was wrong. Very wrong.

Naruto was standing way too still. The dobe from Sasuke's memory could never stay still for more than two minutes without fidgeting or looking around for a source of entertainment or distraction. But Naruto was just standing still, looking straight ahead without wavering, fidgeting, or moving at all. It was as if he were a statue.

Naruto wasn't meant to be a statue. Naruto is full of life! Naruto is the embodiment of energy and endurance! Naruto was never this still even when he slept! Something must be very wrong for Naruto to take such a solemn stance.

Sasuke's original plan was to simply see who the Leaf ninja were before he continued heading over to Konoha's border and send a messenger hawk to the Hokage requesting a meeting to inquire about returning officially to the village. Sasuke wasn't expecting to see Naruto so soon. Sure, he hoped that he would, but didn't actually expect it. And on the off chance that he did see Naruto, Sasuke was going to just make sure that his dobe was alright before heading off.

But Naruto was not alright. Something was wrong with Naruto.

Original plan be damned. After quickly scanning the area to make sure the two were alone, Sasuke moved out of his hiding spot and walked slowly towards Naruto. Naruto wasn't turning around, even though Sasuke was only masking his chakra and making sure his steps weren't too loud. Naruto should have still noticed that he wasn't alone; another indication that something was very wrong.

Sasuke was about 10 meters away when Naruto finally did turn around to face Sasuke.

Naruto was wearing an ANBU mask; a fox mask. Sasuke would have found the irony cute if he wasn't an Uchiha and if he wasn't so distracted by how Naruto slipped into a defensive stance.

"Hello, Usuratonkachi." Sasuke said quietly with a half smirk. He expected Naruto to pull off his mask in disbelief to get a better look at his best friend who previously claimed he would never return to the village again. He expected Naruto to make some sort of loud noise, calling him "Teme" or shouting at Sasuke to not call him that. He didn't expect, but secretly hoped, that Naruto would pull him into a hug and tell him how much Naruto missed him. But Naruto didn't do any of that.

Naruto simply stood there, still in his defensive stance, waiting for Sasuke to make a move.

"Dobe, it's me—" Sasuke took a step forward and was surprised with Naruto's reaction.

Naruto finally abandoned his defensive stance, but adopted an offensive one. When Sasuke didn't move, Naruto jumped forward.

Out of memory's instinct, Sasuke guarded his chest, as that was the first place Naruto would aim for when they sparred in the past.

Instead of reaching for the chest, Naruto aimed a punch for Sasuke's left shoulder. Surprised by the change, Sasuke was caught off guard but managed to successfully block the powerful punch. He did not block the bruising kick Naruto landed on his right side, though.

Sasuke was going to grab Naruto's leg to stop the dobe from attacking him when Naruto jumped backwards.

Naruto grabbed a kunai knife from the back of his belt and rushed forward.

Sasuke grit his teeth as he unsheathed his katana. He was about to block Naruto's straight forward attack when Naruto jumped once again.

Naruto seemed to disappear with the speed he was moving with. Looking up, Sasuke saw Naruto diving right towards him, kunai in hand. Sasuke stepped backwards and blocked the knife with his sword, using both hands as Naruto was putting all his weight, plus momentum, behind his attack.

Sasuke was once again surprised by his dobe when Naruto grabbed his shoulder as a base to simultaneously flip over Sasuke after his attack was blocked and push Sasuke forward. Regaining his balance, Sasuke was in the midst of turning around to face Naruto when he was kicked in the side again.

Sasuke jumped backwards, distancing himself from Naruto to assess what was going on. He was fighting Naruto, but not the Naruto from his memories. The old Naruto would rush into battle without a plan, shouting the entire fight. This Naruto was calculating and completely silent. The old Naruto would also wait for his opponent to declare themselves as enemies or at least confirm that there was no peace negotiations before unnecessary fighting took place. This Naruto did not wait for such things and was moving forward to attack Sasuke again.

"Dobe, stop this! I'm not here to fight!" Sasuke tried to tell his friend while dodging out of the way from Naruto's kunai which was now positioned where Sasuke's heart was.

Again, Naruto was silent as he continued forward. Sparks and metal clangs filled the air as kunai met katana.

Sasuke was getting tired of not getting an answer out of his silent friend so he decided to take initiative.

Sasuke sent a Chidori blast through his katana, on a low charge, and shocked Naruto when their blades met.

Naruto was momentarily stunned. Sasuke took his chance and reached over to grab his dobe's shoulder in place. Naruto recovered quickly and darted to the left. He wasn't quick enough, though, because Sasuke caught hold of Naruto's ANBU mask.

Sasuke was shocked to see Naruto's face. His face used to be set in a perpetual smile, radiating joy and happiness. His expression used to glow with determination in whatever he set himself to do. His tanned skin used to emit constant waves of life and energy, letting anyone who saw him immediately know how Naruto would spend a lot of his time in the sun. His whiskers used to make him stand out in a cute way. And Naruto's eyes used to captivate anyone they gazed upon. They would sparkle with any emotion the dobe would be feeling as well as any light they would capture.

But this Naruto's face was different.

It was definitely still Naruto, but his face revealed how much he had changed.

Naruto's face was now void of emotion. There was neither hint of a smile nor any indicator that this Naruto even knew _how_ to smile anymore. His skin was pale compared to how it used to look, making Sasuke think that Naruto was sick for a while. His whiskers now made this Naruto stick out in a dangerous way. The worst change was Naruto's eyes. They were now blank. They no longer sparkled. There was no more emotion flitting through them, light, or even any sign that Naruto knew what was going on around him. They were completely blank.

Sasuke held Naruto's mask in shock for a minute too long. Naruto was heading towards Sasuke again.

Naruto created a shadow clone, his specialty. His clone ran ahead of him, both holding their kunai.

Naruto's clone ran to Sasuke's right while the original Naruto ran to the left. Simultaneously, the two Narutos slashed with their right hands, making one kunai come at Sasuke from behind and the other coming from the front.

A normal person would be cut in half. Hell, a normal ninja would be injured by the speed Naruto's attack. But Sasuke had activated his sharingan and jumped right before Naruto swiped at him. He had refrained from using his sharingan because as much as this fight with the dobe annoyed him, he didn't want to hurt Naruto in any way anymore.

Now that Sasuke could see everything that Naruto was doing, it became easier to not only dodge all of Naruto's attacks as well as to formulate a plan to stop Naruto.

Naruto's clone jumped up a tree to intercept Sasuke in the air while the original Naruto jumped up after them.

"Dobe." The same trick wouldn't work on Sasuke again. Sasuke grabbed Naruto's clone to use as a shield against the original. Using the clone for momentum, Sasuke twisted in midair, facing the clone towards the ground and the original Naruto. Then Sasuke used the clone as a base to push off so he could jump higher.

The original Naruto, instead of slashing with his kunai at the clone like Sasuke thought, reached up with his other arm. His clone grabbed his hand to throw Naruto after Sasuke.

Naruto was about to slash at Sasuke from below when Sasuke grabbed Naruto's wrist to twist him around. When the two reached the ground, Sasuke snaked his arms under Naruto's and placed his hands behind Naruto's head, holding him in place.

Naruto gasped at the close contact; his clone dispersed.

Taking this as a good sign, Sasuke pulled the smaller ninja closer.

"Naruto." Sasuke whispered into the other's ear.

Naruto's body tensed a little.

"….S-" Naruto started to whisper back but seemed to stop himself.

"Naruto. Naruto. Naruto. Naruto." Sasuke started to chant Naruto's name into his ear. Naruto started to tremble.

Sasuke took his hands from the back of Naruto's head and instead wrapped them around his slim waist.

Sasuke would have loved to stay in that moment forever, holding the one he loves most close to him, but soon other voices joined his own in calling out Naruto's name.

"NARUTOOO!" the other voices Sasuke guessed came from other other's teammates.

Although he hated to do it, Sasuke let go of his love and started to retrace his steps.

"…..Sa—" Sasuke heard Naruto whisper. He chanced a look backwards and saw Naruto looking towards the general direction Sasuke left in. Sasuke recognized a bit of the old sparkle gleaming once again in Naruto's eyes.

To put himself at ease, Sasuke created his own shadow clone. While he hurried ahead to send a messenger hawk requesting for a meeting with someone on the Hokage's behalf, making sure to mention that he meant to harm and a promise to not injure anyone sent for the meeting, his clone was left to keep an eye on Naruto.

* * *

><p><strong>Reviews make me smile a lot ;)<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I own no one in the Naruto Universe.**

**Wow! Three chapters in the same day! Being isolated from the internet so I can't work on my homework but telling no one that I don't have the necessary materials needed to do my homework is the perfect way to make sure I can write so much!**

**Now onward with the 3rd chapter! Finally some yaoi!**

When Sai finally reached Naruto, the younger shinobi was sitting on the ground facing towards the forest west of the clearing he was in. Sai rushed over to Naruto, checking to see if there were any injuries.

Sai is the captain of a team of ANBU Block Ops. His team consists of himself, Kohaku, Takumo, Zima, Akimo, and Naruto. The team worked well enough with each other that they were given permission to become a permanent team together. Each of the members had something to add to the mission.

Kohaku was Sai's second in command. Because Sai did not normally work well with others, Kohaku took on the position himself because he could easily settle disputes and because he was the one Sai first began to trust in the new team. Kohaku also happened to be a gifted tracker.

Takumo came next to the team. Takumo was skilled at tongues as well as their best genjutsu artist. He was often the one in the team to negotiate between foreign ninja when the team was sent other places. If the ones he was talking to showed signs of violent thoughts, he would quickly place them in a genjutsu while the rest of the team went into action.

Zima was the team's trapper. He spent hours developing new traps and was able to set and execute them within minutes. He paid attention to detail, which Sai appreciated, so his traps were flawless. Zima's attention to detail and knowledge also allowed him to be able to detect where other traps were.

Akimo was the team's long-range fighter. He had good eyesight as well as the skill to hit anything he was aiming for. He didn't need much time to set up his attacks either. All he needed was a clear shot.

And finally there was Naruto.

Naruto is the squad's ultimate weapon. He's the village's precious host as well as the soul of the team. Each member cared for him and tried to prevent Naruto from having to fight at all. Naruto only fought as a last resort.

Naruto was theirs.

So when Akimo told the rest of the team that he heard fighting in the area Naruto was in, the rest quickly followed to see if their blonde was in trouble.

Sai got to Naruto first, and was looking for injuries while the others surveyed the area.

Satisfied that Naruto was unhurt, Sai pulled him up and held him close.

"Do we know what happened?"

"There seems to have been a fight, sir." Takumo answered from behind.

"I told you that before." Akimo scowled as he studied the tree Naruto's clone had jumped off of earlier.

Though Sai's face bore no expression, he was growing impatient. He wanted to know who his Naruto fought with.

Kohaku seemed to notice. "He meant can we tell who else was here besides Naruto?"

"No, sir." Takumo replied, moving towards the center of the clearing to join the others.

"They must have been pretty powerful, though; to be able to hold their own against Naruto and to get past Zima's traps!" Akimo commented off handedly.

"Impossible! My traps are practically invisible! They should have set off!" Zima protested, also heading towards the group.

"Well obviously they haven't, Zima, or else Naruto wouldn't have had to fight and we would know who was here." Akimo replied in an even tone.

"That's enough," Kohaku cut in, "I agree with Akimo's earlier observation. Zima's traps are flawless, and to be able to get past them undetected means that the person we are dealing with is very powerful. But they were also skilled enough to not leave a trace while fighting, too, so arguing amongst ourselves will help no one."

While the others in his team quieted down, Sai was paying attention to Naruto.

Instead of the usual blank expression and eyes Sai had grown used to, Naruto's face had a tiny trace of some emotion that Sai could not tell. His eyes—while revealing no emotion—had a few sparkles in them.

Sai was never any good at reading into people's emotions, but he had thought that he had gotten pretty adept at reading Naruto's. But he could not figure out what Naruto was feeling in place of a vague contentment that he usually had nowadays.

"…S—" Naruto whispered, barely audible.

Immediately, all other noise stopped as the rest of the team focused their undivided attention on their blonde teammate.

"Naruto?" Kohaku asked quietly.

"Who did you fight with?" Akimo asked, just as quietly. The others in the group glared at him for asking before returning their attention to Naruto.

Naruto suddenly turned his head westwards, like he had before the group came. "-Sas—" he whispered, a small smile growing and his eyes seemed to brighten.

The majority of the group didn't know what Naruto was talking about. They stood there admiring the look on Naruto's face, smiles growing on each of their own faces. One or two were almost going to ask Naruto to repeat himself in hopes of seeing Naruto's smile again, but was silenced by the look Sai was giving them.

He and Kohaku knew what Naruto was talking about. Naruto had fought with Sasuke Uchiha.

"Everyone, back to the campsite. Zima, you and Akimo will head west. See if there is anything out of place. If you think you spot someone, come back here _immediately_. Understood?" Sai ordered, placing his hands on Naruto's shoulders and began to guide him back to the campsite.

The team nodded to show that they understood their orders, though they didn't understand the meaning behind the orders.

Sai rushed to their campsite with Naruto in tow. Takumo followed them with Kohaku in the rear, checking to make sure they weren't being followed.

When the group reached their destination, Sai ordered Takumo to stand watch while he and Kohaku sat Naruto down and began to check him thoroughly while muttering to each other.

"Is the jutsu still working?" Kohaku asked while shining a flashlight into Naruto's eyes to check dilation.

"Yes, Naruto's mind is still under my control. _HE_ must have found a way to weaken the jutsu somehow, though, as it _is_ weaker than before." Sai replied with a slight scowl.

"HE found out about mind control jutsu?" Kohaku asked, looking up at Sai. His eyes wide with something. Surprise? Fear? Sai couldn't tell.

"I can't be sure, but it might have been accidental; HE always seemed to bring out Naruto's strongest emotions." Sai said sourly, looking back at Kohaku.

"But it can be fixed, right? I mean, HE isn't around here, right?" Kohaku was now visibly worried. Even Sai could tell that.

"I don't think he's around anymore. I'll redo the jutsu after the other two have confirmed it, though."

The two kept muttering to each other until Zima and Akimo returned to the campsite.

"Nothing out of place found, sir." Zima reported to Sai, who nodded in response.

"Why did we have to leave, sir? And what does it have to do with who fought Naruto?" Akimo asked.

All eyes, except for Kohaku and Naruto, were faced towards their captain, waiting for the answer.

"I know who Naruto fought with." Sai deadpanned.

Suddenly, the site was filled with three voices shouting atop one another demanding for an answer.

Kohaku quieted the three down with a small gesture indicating Sai had more to say.

"Uchiha, Sasuke."

Silence followed the two words. The only one who moved was Naruto, who turned to face Sai after the name was spoken, eyes brighter than before.

The rest of the group observed Naruto's actions. Usually while on a mission, Sai kept Naruto sedated with the reaction to battle anyone besides the rest of the team who comes within 10 meters of him.

Akimo, Takuma, and Zima looked surprised as Naruto began moving his head side to side, his eyes searching for something past them. Kohaku and Sai observed with apprehension. They could see that whenever Sasuke was mentioned the mind control jutsu weakened.

Naruto was becoming aware of his surroundings again.

Quickly, Sai made a few hand signs and placed his hand atop Naruto's forehead. Naruto's eyes and expression became blank once more.

The three other teammates looked at their captain and Kohaku, confused about why Sai redid the mind control jutsu Naruto was under.

In answer to the questioning looks, Kohaku simply stated, "Whenever HE is mentioned," emphasizing the second word to let the others know who he was talking about without mentioning any names, "the jutsu weakens."

Understanding filled the other's expressions as all eyes returned to a once more stoic Naruto.

"What does…HE want?" Zima asked after a pause, looking towards his captain. Akimo and Takumo also looked at Sai. Were their expressions questioning?

"We're not sure why HE came back, but we can assume HE is targeting Naruto." Sai replied, placing a hand on Naruto's shoulder.

No one liked that idea at all as they all instinctually moved closer to the blonde. Silence rang through the clearing as each member of the squad thought about it.

"Does this mean that this is our last mission?" Takumo asked.

"Until Sa—HE leaves, obviously." Akimo caught himself. Luckily Naruto didn't notice and was still staring blankly ahead, but Sai noticed and shot a look towards Akimo.

"Even if Lady Tsunade thinks that Naruto would be a match for HIM, the elders certainly won't let him outside the village and our guard." Kohaku stated in a comforting tone.

"Then shouldn't we prepare for our forced break with a proper farewell?" Zima asked quickly in a rushed tone. His question aimed at Sai but his eyes set on Naruto.

Immediately, Akimo and Takumo sent glances towards Sai too. Were they hopeful? Excited? They had smiles on their faces but their eyes were waiting for an answer. Sai looked over to Kohaku for a translation but saw the same expression on his face, too.

Noticing that Sai couldn't decipher their expressions, Kohaku decided to make things simpler for Sai without saying a word for both future practice and so Kohaku could have some fun. His eyes locked with Sai's, and then he deliberately looked at Naruto and began to unclasp his own ANBU vest, looking up at Sai before taking it off.

Sai understood.

With a nod, Sai began to form similar hand signals as before and once again placed his hand on Naruto's forehead. When he was done, he signaled for the rest of the team to start preparing.

Zima rushed off to set new traps around the campsite with the help of Akimo. Takumo set a genjutsu barrier around the site so if anyone who was not previously there should come across the site, all they would see was the ANBU team taking shifts to keep watch. Kohaku grabbed a blanket and a pouch and placed it next to the blanket to where Sai was leading Naruto.

Naruto's whiskered cheeks began to flush, his eyes half opened and glazed over, and he was beginning to pant a little.

Sai then claimed Naruto's lips as his own, tracing Naruto's lips with his tongue before sucking on the bottom.

Kohaku began to unclasp Naruto's vest, taking his time to rub against Naruto's back while he stripped Naruto of the garment.

After Naruto's vest was thrown aside, Kohaku began to work on Naruto's neck. Licking the back of it, occasionally pausing at certain placed he knew Naruto was sensitive to. He first kissed Naruto's neck before sucking on Naruto's sensitive spots.

Naruto moaned softly. Sai then licked Naruto's bottom lip, asking for entrance which Naruto gave. Sai's tongue began to explore the inside of Naruto's mouth, savoring Naruto's taste.

Takumo soon finished setting the genjutsu and soon joined the other two. Takumo went for Naruto's shirt. He grabbed his kunai knife and cut the shirt rather than interrupt the other two. Once the remains of Naruto's shirt were gone, Takumo began to suck on Naruto's right nipple.

"Ah!" Naruto gasped as he began to slightly tremble. His cheeks growing rosier than before. His legs were starting to fail him so he was lowered so Naruto was in a kneeling position.

Sai turned Naruto's head to the side before breaking their kiss. He then unzipped his pants to reveal a half hard member. He then pulled Naruto's head a little closer.

The movement did not bother Kohaku or Takumo much; Kohaku was now nibbling on Naruto's ears and Takumo had started to suck on Naruto's left nipple, playing with the right nipple with his hand.

Sai touched Naruto's lips with his hardening dick and moaned softly with pleasure as Naruto licked his slit. Naruto's tongue worked like magic, alternating between softly licking Sai and placing kisses on him.

Finally, Naruto engulfed Sai's now hard dick with his mouth. Naruto's head started to move forward and backwards as he started to suck on Sai. Naruto's tongue was still playing with Sai while he applied more pressure. His teeth grated against Sai which sent him over the limit. Sai pulled out before he came into Naruto's mouth.

Zima and Akimo finished setting traps, so they were more than ready to join in.

With Kohaku's help, Akimo pulled off Naruto's pants, enjoying listening to the surprise gasp Naruto let loose as Takumo bit his nipple.

Naruto was then pulled onto all fours. Akimo lay underneath him and began to trace Naruto's own member with his tongue.

Naruto let out a surprised cry. He was then overwhelmed with new lips overtaking his neck as Zima moved besides him to the left. Kohaku moved in front of Naruto and pressed his dick against Naruto's lips which Naruto opened so Kohaku could slowly move into them with enthusiasm. On the right, Takumo had kneeled next to Naruto after pulling off his pants and took Naruto's hand so he could stroke Takumo. Behind Naruto, Sai took out a bottle of lube from the pouch nearby and placed some on his fingers. Placing a hand on Naruto's back, Sai inserted a finger inside Naruto.

Naruto gasped, allowing Kohaku to slip more of himself inside Naruto's mouth. Zima began to run his hands around Naruto's torso, making sure to play with his nipples. Takumo began to slowly thrust in time with Naruto's strokes. Akimo had stopped teasing Naruto and placed his lips around Naruto and began to slowly suck. Sai inserted another finger and began to gradually thrust them in and out of Naruto, reaching deeper with each thrust.

Naruto began to tremble as the pace started moving faster. Sai had inserted three fingers by now and Akimo was sucking harder!

Naruto started to whimper loudly in pleasure as Sai touched his prostate.

Sai then ran his arms around Naruto's waist and maneuvered Naruto into a sitting position. He lifted Naruto slightly so Sai, now hard again, could lower Naruto onto himself. Naruto cried out best he could with Kohaku still occupying his mouth as Sai entered Naruto and began to thrust inside him. Slowly at first, then quickening the pace.

Kohaku was matching Sai's pace with his own thrusts into Naruto's mouth as he moaned with pleasure, "_Fuck_, Naruto! That's so good!"

Akimo was now deep throating Naruto as he too matched the quickening tempo while stroking himself to the sounds of Naruto's continued whimpers of pleasure.

Zima and Takumo were both making use of Naruto's hand, each thrusting to Naruto's soft touch to match the pace.

Naruto gave an involuntary spasm as Sai hit his prostate. Noticing this, Sai began to thrust even faster, making sure to hit Naruto's sweet spot every time.

The tempo reached a new speed and passion as Naruto gave more squeaks and spasms of pleasure. Each man thrusting faster and faster.

Kohaku was the first to break off. He was coming and didn't want to inside of Naruto's mouth. While he stroked the last of the cum out of himself, he pulled Naruto into a sloppy kiss. Takumo was the second the break off while he came. After he was done, he played with Naruto's right nipple, enjoying a soft moan to join the squeaks and shouts. Then Zima pulled out, mimicking Takumo on Naruto's left side.

Naruto was reaching his climax. With a final shout, he threw back his head, away from Kohaku's kiss, and came into Akimo's mouth who greedily drank up all of Naruto's cum.

With Naruto warm walls clenching around Sai, Sai also climaxed and he came inside Naruto. With a few final thrusts, he exited the now exhausted Naruto.

The team observed their passed out uke for a little while before moving around the campsite to clean up and rest themselves. Kohaku was chosen to take the first watch while Sai took care of washing down Naruto. The rest of the team shuffled around before settling down.

They were unaware of the danger they were all in.

**Reviews make my day full of smiles ;)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: No one in the Naruto Universe belong to me.**

**Man, Finals can be a bitch. I thought writer's block for story ideas were bad, but that's NOTHING compared to a writer's block for a thesis.**

**Ha ha, I have really gotten into writing this story! I'm practically absorbed! Although it does take awhile to write each chapter. Oh well, hopefully it'll be worth it. Onward with the chapter!**

* * *

><p>Sasuke knew that this was the first of many hours of truth.<p>

He was standing in a clearing a mile or so away from Konoha's border. It was where he said in his message that he would wait for the supposed meeting to decide his fate.

He knew that he would not be talking directly to the Hokage. He didn't even expect to speak with any of Tsunade's aides. Hell, he wasn't expecting his message to be taken seriously. Sasuke was honestly expecting an ANBU squad to be deployed to take him in.

Sasuke didn't want to fight any of them, especially since he learned that Naruto was also an ANBU Black Op. If the situation called for it, Sasuke would defend himself with causing as little injury to whoever attacks him as possible. He also had a letter to be left, after he successfully handled the situation and retreated, explaining where he would wait for another meeting the next day.

Sasuke was prepared to repeat the cycle however times needed until either he was officially told that he could not return to the village or his case would be heard.

While Sasuke waited, and prepared himself for the expected battle, his thoughts kept straying towards Naruto.

Naruto seemed so different; he was blank. The only time Naruto had shown any sign of real life was when Sasuke held him. Sasuke inwardly smiled—Uchiha's do not outwardly smile—at the memory.

But something didn't add up. Naruto only seemed aware of who he was fighting with when being held by Sasuke. Couldn't Naruto have deduced that much when he first saw Sasuke? Even if Naruto assumed it was a disguise, wouldn't he have discovered the truth when Sasuke activated his Sharingan?

Sasuke wished he could have had more time at that clearing. He wanted to let Naruto know that he was returning to the village for _him_. He wanted to ask Naruto if he could possible forgive him. He wanted to tell Naruto that he was in love with him. He wanted to tell Naruto that he had _always_ loved him. He wanted to simply hold his dobe for a while longer.

Sasuke was so absorbed in his thoughts, that he almost missed the soft sound of leaves rustling as they were disturbed. Someone was approaching.

Sasuke couldn't tell the exact number of people approaching him, but he could tell that it wasn't many. It sounded like less than three people.

That surprised Sasuke enough for him to slightly raise an eyebrow. He was expecting more than 20.

Sasuke moved calmly towards the center of the clearing and placed his katana on the ground to his left side as a sign that he would not use it unless necessary.

He then stood in the center of the clearing, not moving a muscle; waiting for whoever was approaching to attack.

The leaves rustling became more pronounced as the people approaching got closer. Sasuke could tell that it was only two people.

These two must be more ANBU or other highly qualified ninja; probably sent to see if it was really Sasuke and not a trick.

Then the rustling stopped to the right of where Sasuke stood, indicating that whoever was sent to meet him arrived. Sasuke turned to see who they were.

Sasuke saw Sakura and Kakashi.

To say that Sasuke was surprised was an understatement; though he didn't show it. His face bore no indicator that he wasn't expecting to see his old teammate and sensei.

"Sasuke." Sakura whispered, as if trying to convince herself that what she was seeing wasn't an allusion.

Sasuke did not glare at her the way he used to, but simply stared back at her.

Sakura had changed since he last saw her a couple of years ago. Her pink hair was longer, and she now wore it in a ponytail, save for her bangs which hung loose while framing her face. She was also wearing darker clothes than before, a black shirt and shorts with what looked like a light pink skirt. She also now sported a red jacket in the same design as her old dress and shirt, but fashioned after Tsunade's coat. She still wore her forehead-protector the same way.

She took a hesitant step forwards, but was stopped when Kakashi placed a hand on her shoulder.

Sasuke's gaze shifted from his old teammate to his old sensei.

Kakashi still looked the same to him. Still the same standard shinobi uniform, complete with his old ANBU guarded gloves. Kakashi's silver hair was still defying gravity. But his forehead-protector was no longer covering his Sharingan. It was fully exposed and analyzing Sasuke's every move.

Sasuke could tell that Kakashi was very serious and was prepared for a battle.

The three stood in silence, staring and studying each other.

Sasuke felt a slight pang of nostalgic pain; usually the dobe would have interrupted the silence by now, deeming it unworthy of his attention.

Getting over his inward shock of seeing his old team, Sasuke remembered the reason they were seeing each other in the first place.

Sasuke turned the rest of his body to face his old team, noting how Kakashi's grip on Sakura's shoulder tightened slightly as he tenses, ready for Sasuke to attack.

Unfazed by the reaction, Sasuke returned his gaze towards the calmer of the two.

"Sakura." Sasuke said in a quiet tone. He made sure no malice reached his voice. He wanted the other two to know that he meant no harm or anything of the sort. He came in peace.

"Sasuke," Sakura whispered once more, "is it really you?" her eyes brimming with unshed tears of hope; and apprehension? Sasuke couldn't fully tell what emotions Sakura was showing. She was harder to read than his dobe.

Sasuke resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Of course it was him! He was the one who sent the message, wasn't he? Couldn't she see that it was him?

Instead of indulging in his urge, Sasuke merely held his gaze.

Sakura turned to look at Kakashi, who returned the look. He slightly inclined his head as a conferment.

Turning back to Sasuke, Sakura whispered, "What are you doing here?"

Again, Sasuke repressed the urge to roll his eyes. He had stated his intentions on the message he sent the Hokage. Did she even read it?

Showing an understanding still retained from their days as Team Seven, Kakashi patted Sakura's shoulder and stepped forward, effectively placing himself in the position to both protect her and to ask Sasuke the needed questions rather than Sakura's repetitive ones.

"Why did you request this meeting?" Kakashi asked in a low, serious tone.

"I want to return to the village." Sasuke stated in a tone mirroring his old sensei. He knew that this line of questioning required concise answers, which Sasuke appreciated. That meant that the questions themselves would be concise as well.

At his answer, the other two in the clearing reacted. Kakashi's eyebrows rose from their furrowed position, showing that he was taking in the new information with careful consideration. Sakura openly gasped from her spot behind Kakashi, peering from behind to stare at Sasuke in open wonder.

The three stood in a calculating silence once again.

"Why now?" Kakashi asked, this time his tone was less severe.

"Naruto." Sasuke answered honestly.

The other two reacted once again to Sasuke's answer. Sakura, peering over Kakashi's shoulder, now wore an expression of confusion. And something else, a slight sadness?

Kakashi's expression melted into one of understanding. Sasuke couldn't help but think that his former sensei knew of his feelings when he was still a genin. Sasuke couldn't decide what to feel about that, but at the moment, all he could feel was a slight thankfulness. If Kakashi knew how he felt, then he would know that Sasuke was telling the truth.

Sasuke's mind was filled with questions. Did they really believe him? Would they really accept him once again?

"You do realize that coming back won't be easy." Kakashi's tone was more business-like, but nonetheless lighter than before.

Sasuke inclined his head to show he understood.

"There will be trials that will decide your fate. You're a missing-nin, so they might call for your execution. And if not, you might not be able to return as a ninja." Kakashi warned his former student.

"I know." Sasuke said in a serious voice. He had already gone through all this when debating internally on whether or not to return. But he had made up his mind, and no one was going to convince him otherwise.

Sakura stepped out from behind Kakashi and stood to his side, still staring at Sasuke.

Sasuke repressed in inward sigh; Sakura was going to ask frivolous questions again.

"…You're really coming back?" Sakura whispered in a shaking voice.

Sasuke took this question seriously. Her eyes were desperate for the truth and Sasuke could tell that she really meant this question, no matter what the answer could be.

Looking straight into her eyes, Sasuke said, "Yes."

Sakura broke out into a watery grin. Her smiles never affected Sasuke like Naruto's had, but it was nice to see his old teammate smile.

The other two seemed satisfied with Sasuke's honesty and he could tell that they knew he was seriously telling the truth about wanting to come back. The rest of any of their questions would be tedious questions about places and times to meet or go to the village for any hearing on his behalf.

Those would have to wait.

Sasuke had a more important question.

"I saw Naruto." Sasuke stated abruptly. The change in atmosphere was instantaneous. The light and almost happy atmosphere they had just acquired morphed into a darker and apprehensive one as each group was anxious of the other's questions and answers.

In this new atmosphere, Kakashi no longer bore a calculating or relaxed look, but rather a sympathetic one that still retained his seriousness. Sakura now had a somber look replacing her grin.

"When did you see him?" Kakashi asked in a low tone as he addressed Sasuke.

"Last night." Sasuke replied.

"Did anything happen?" asked Kakashi.

"We fought." Sasuke responded. Kakashi's eyebrows raised in a halfway amused at the predictable outcome and halfway sympathetic as if he knew their fight was not the same as the ones in the past. Sakura's face fell slightly, as if expecting or hoping for a different answer.

"He seemed…different." Sasuke looked at his old team, waiting for an answer that would explain how or why his dobe had changed. His Uchiha upbringing wouldn't allow him to betray just how badly he needed the answer, but he knew that his old team would tell him the truth.

Kakashi looked over to Sakura who stepped forward a half step to indicate that it would be she who answered all Naruto questions.

"Naruto..." Sakura started as if unsure how to properly explain the situation, "Naruto is no longer allowed to perform missions with Team Kakashi."

"Or more specifically, Team Kakashi is not allowed to request for Naruto to join us." Kakashi added.

Nodding, Sakura continued.

"Naruto now serves under Sai's ANBU squad and mostly goes on reserve missions."

Sasuke only continued to stare at the other two. He _knew_ Naruto was an ANBU now. But that didn't explain his change in behavior. Kakashi used to be in ANBU and he came out relatively normal, or as normal as Kakashi can be.

"Naruto was taken out of normal rotation after it was decided that he should be acting like a true jinchuuriki. He was sent for private training and was made an ANBU member." Said Sakura.

Sasuke's expression darkened. How could the village do that to Naruto? How could _Tsunade_ do this to Naruto? She had always treated him like a nephew! And what did she mean by "true jinchuuriki"?

Sakura noticed Sasuke's changed expression so he let her continue.

"The village Elders decided this. After Naruto almost lost control of Kyuubi during his battle with Pain, they sent him to become a 'true Konoha ninja' so they can use him for 'Konoha's benefit'." Sakura explained with a bitter tone.

Battle with Pain? Wasn't Pain the face of the Akatsuki? So they went after Naruto? Naruto almost lost control of the Nine-Tails? For the benefit of Konoha? Sasuke's head was filled with questions, but they could wait.

"After Naruto came back from their training, he never hung out with us anymore. He wouldn't train with anyone other than other than a few ANBU members. He would hardly see any of us and when we went to visit him, he seemed very distant. He never smiled. He wouldn't talk. It seemed like he didn't recognize any of us!" Sakura seemed close to tears near the end.

"Hn. Naruto wouldn't talk while we fought, nor did he seem like the old dobe. The only time he seemed to recognize who he was fighting with was when held him." Sasuke explained.

Kakashi's eyebrows rose in slight amusement at the word "held"; Sakura looked a little confused.

"—held him in place after I disarmed him." Sasuke clarified.

Kakashi's expression was slightly more amused at Sasuke's attempt to explain why he was holding Naruto.

Sakura, slightly pacified with Sasuke's explanation, had a calculating look on her face.

"Naruto recognized you?" Sakura asked slowly.

"Hn." Sasuke replied. "After we fought, I left a shadow clone to watch over him until he goes back to the village."

Sakura's calculating look continued as she thought. Then she told him, "I'll be sure to let Lady Tsunade when we tell her about your returning to the village."

"Thank you." Sasuke told the both of them with sincerity.

"Where do you want to meet when we tell you what Lady Hokage reply is?" Kakashi inquired, indicating that they were going to leave soon.

Sasuke tossed the scroll he had prepared earlier with a location and time of where he would be.

Inclining his head to show that he understood, Kakashi lowered his forehead protector back to its usual place, covering his Sharingan.

"Sasuke," Sakura stepped forwards with questioning eyes, "why did you say Naruto is the reason you are coming back?"

Facing Sakura, Sasuke answered with complete honesty.

"Because I love him."

* * *

><p><strong>Reviews make my day. They make me smile a lot when I see someone has reviewed my stories.<strong>


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I own nothing and no one.**

**These disclaimers get kinda boring. I mean, it's kind of obvious that I am not the owner of a series if I am writing a story about it on a fanfiction website. And it's not like if I 'accidentally' forget to disclaim a chapter or story someone would turn me in! What, do lawyers have nothing better to do than to search stories for lack of disclaimers? And the people reporting are like flaggers on youtube. Just annoying and ruining other's fun.**

**But I digress.**

**Warning: Cover your innocent eyes if you can't stand swearing and such.**

**Onward with the story!**

* * *

><p>Sasuke watched his former team leave the clearing.<p>

After he told Sakura the real reason he was returning to the village, he watched the reactions unfold.

Kakashi's visible eye softened; he had already known this, but Sasuke guessed it warmed his old sensei's heart to hear the words aloud. But behind the soft acceptance, there was an underlying sadness.

Sakura's expression was of shock. Why was it so shocking? Wasn't it obvious that Naruto was the only one Sasuke had ever voluntarily gotten close to. Sure, Sasuke hid his feelings well, but it's not like he had ever tried to get romantically—or any kind of emotionally—close to anyone else in the village. Sasuke inwardly groaned at the possibility of the shock coming from a belief that Sasuke would return her old feelings.

After the shock had slightly worn off, Sakura's expression shifted to a sympathetic one.

Was the underlying sadness and sympathy because of Naruto's change.

Sasuke told the other two that when they next meet up he'd answer any questions and would report on his clone's observations regarding Naruto after he got tired of the sympathy looks. Kakashi recognized it as the polite dismissal that it was and turned to leave. Sakura got the hint and also turned to leave.

She called that she's make sure to tell Lady Hokage everything that had transpired. Then his old team left the clearing with Sasuke watching them leave.

He wasn't sure he wanted Sakura to tell Tsunade about his love for Naruto. He hoped that his pink-haired former teammate had enough class and tact to let Sasuke tell his reasoning himself. At the same time, though, like with Kakashi if Tsunade knew of his love then that would help his return to the village and to the dobe.

Sasuke sighed as he remembered his encounter with Naruto the night before.

There was no doubt in Sasuke's mind that some outside force had changed Naruto.

Sakura had said that this change happened when Naruto was taken away to train to control Kyuubi.

Exactly what kind of training would that entail? Sasuke had only met the beast once; after he met Naruto for the first time in years. But in that one meeting, Sasuke could tell that Kyuubi was not a force to be easily dealt with.

Sure, he acted superior, and at the time he was still on an internal high from seeing Naruto after so long; but after he had time to truly reflect, Sasuke realized that he probably would not have survived if he had a real battle with the demon.

Kyuubi is hatred incarnate. While Sasuke was able to forcibly retract its evil chakra, he knew that Kyuubi was not taking him seriously. Kyuubi was _allowing_ Sasuke intimidate the blonde. Maybe he got a kick out of it, or maybe he was hoping that Naruto would undo the deal and allow Kyuubi to take over so he could defeat the seemingly superior Uchiha. Sasuke wasn't sure of the reason why, but he knew for a fact that Kyuubi wasn't even trying.

Sasuke remembered how vile Kyuubi's chakra is. Sasuke also remembered the crushing feeling of sheer hatred Kyuubi's meer presence inspired.

Sasuke remembered fighting a Kyuubi-enhanced-Naruto at that damned valley. Sasuke was barely able to keep up! He had to use all of the power of his curse seal on his shoulder to be able to fight Naruto—and that was when the chakra cloak had only _one_ tail. There was an inward shudder at the thought of having to fight Naruto with more than one tail.

If Naruto almost lost control, then that might mean that Kyuubi was somehow stronger than before.

Naruto had gone to train to control Kyuubi, maybe that meant that Kyuubi enforced some of himself into his dobe's personality. Kyuubi was so filled with indiscriminate hatred that maybe that could explain why Naruto has seemed so distant and didn't recognize any body.

Sasuke's mind swirled with other possibilities.

What if the change resulted in being forced into ANBU? Kakashi never talked about his time spent as an ANBU Black Op and seemed to regret past memories of his times spent as one. Kakashi quit for a reason, even if he never went into detail of those reasons.

Sakura had said that Naruto has basically been surrounded by none other than fellow ANBU members. Perhaps Naruto's change resulted in not being able to surround himself with anything other than non-stop work atmosphere.

Sakura had also said that Naruto mostly goes on reserve missions. Those missions, Sasuke knew, are only meant for the hardened. Those missions usually resulted in some sort of massacre from both sides.

Naruto wouldn't be able to handle that. Naruto is pure! He's innocent! The dobe would always try his hardest to make sure no one near him—physically and emotionally—got hurt. If death was on the line, Naruto would find some way to avoid that consequence and go for the harder option of capturing alive.

Being surrounded by death—_causing_ so much death—would be Naruto's undoing. He could have shut himself from the world in order to prevent the pain caused by so much unbearable despair.

Sasuke couldn't tell what the reason was for Naruto's change. The reasons he came up with made sense, but at the same time did not. Naruto didn't seem like he shut himself away or was possessed by his inner demon; he was _blank_.

Sasuke knew that the village elders were responsible for taking away Konoha's Sun.

_They_ sent Naruto away. _They_ were the reason for all this. _They_ probably didn't even care about the pain it caused as long as it benefited them and their twisted ideals.

It was the same as Itachi.

Sasuke shook his head. All his inner rambling was getting him nowhere. Even if he thought of a hundred possibilities, he wouldn't be any closer to learning why Naruto seemed so blank. It sounded as if no one else knew so he'd just wait until his clone dispersed with new observations so he could try to figure out the answer with others like Tsunade and his old team.

Sasuke mentally calmed himself down; wasn't hard since he _is_ and Uchiha and Uchihas never lose control.

He would just wait for his clone, and then wait for the meeting the next day.

…

…

…

Sasuke could feel his chakra start to return. The clone had dispersed.

. . .

. . .

. . !

What the fuck?

What the FUCK?

WHAT.

THE.

**FUCK**?

WHAT THE FUCK DID THOSE FUCKING BASTARDS FUCKING DO TO NARUTO?

Out of instinct, Sasuke unsheathed his katana with his Sharingan spinning.

Images of those fucking bastards raping Naruto kept flashing in Sasuke's inner eye.

With a feral, wordless roar filled with vicious and untamed anger, Sasuke lashed out his anger at a nearby tree.

It only took a single swing for the tree to fall to the ground, but that wasn't enough! An image of Sai unstrapping Naruto's—HIS NARUTO'S—vest bombarded Sasuke's mind. He tried to slice through them, but the tree put up no resistance to Sasuke's wrath.

Another wordless shout filled the surrounded area as Sasuke turned to a nearby boulder.

More images kept creeping into his head. Those bastards touching his Naruto. Those bastards forcing his Naruto to touch them. Those bastards feeling pleasure from forcing Naruto to do these things. How _blank_ Naruto seemed through it all, despite his blushing and…Sasuke refused to finish the thought.

Unconsciously, Sasuke charged his katana with his Chidori and easily cut through the boulder he had been slicing through.

With a growl, he threw his katana to the right; it was still charged so it went through two trees before resting halfway through the third.

Sasuke turned to another tree, sharingan still spinning with his rage.

Sasuke saw those damn bastards' faces on the tree he was facing. His anger beyond words, he immediately started to attack said tree.

Pieces of bark started to chip off the tree once he started pummeling the tree with all his strength. Some cut his cheek as they flew by, but Sasuke didn't care. He needed those bastards to fucking _pay_ for what they did. Even if it meant irrationally sending a tree to its doom because he saw their faces on it, they would soon learn to truly fear and regret what they dared to do.

Sasuke continued to punch the tree until he wore the bark away, and continued still.

After the bark was smooth enough to run a hand across without fear of splinters, Sasuke stepped back a bit.

'_Calm down, Uchiha. Calm down….'_ Sasuke thought to himself, taking deep breathes.

'…_Fuck that!'_ Who the hell could be calm at a time like this? Sasuke redoubled his attempts to annihilate the bastard-tree.

_How_ could he be expected to stay calm after what his clone had witnessed?

The tree had absolutely no bark in places within the raging Uchiha's standing reach and was a good half-foot-to-a-foot thinner than original before Sasuke started to calm down.

After breathing a counting to 10 about thirty times, Sasuke started to review his options.

His ideal choice was to hurry after those fucking bastards. And. Make. Them. Pay.

Sasuke entertained the thought for a while; imagining how much satisfaction he'd feel after he had beaten each and every one of them in such a way that even Tsunade could not be able to tell who they were from their mangled, pathetic corpses before he would cremate them with his own flames.

Unfortunately, the reasonable part of his mind just had to remind him that he could not indulge in this desire.

Since his clone had dispersed, that meant that those fucking bastards were headed back towards Konoha; and Sasuke had little chance to reach them before they entered the village's boundaries since they have been traveling the whole time and Sasuke has been destroying the scenery.

And Tsunade would have no idea why he was dismembering her village's ANBU ninjas. He needed Tsunade to believe his desire to return to the village was true and killing them would not help his case, no matter how justified.

The other choice was to continue with the old plan of meeting with Kakashi and Sakura tomorrow and _then_ telling them what those fucking bastards did to his Naruto so action could be taken.

Grumbling to himself, Sasuke inwardly debated the two options.

Option one may be stupid and reckless as well as disastrous—much like his dobe—but it also yielded immediate results. Instant gratification and satisfaction as well as proper justice in Sasuke's mind.

Option two was the 'right' and 'logical' choice—the one Sasuke would have made had he been in the right mind—but dammit Sasuke is _not_ in the 'right mind'! He's fucking pissed! He wanted to take option one because option two took too long! It required telling more people of Naruto's humiliation. Option two meant waiting until disciplinary action could be taken and that would most likely be at most imprisonment. That would be getting off far too lightly, in Sasuke's opinion. Those fucking bastards deserve to burn in hell!

Sasuke walked over to the tree his katana was stuck in. As much as he hated to admit is, option two was the logical and correct choice to make.

With one movement, he pulled the katana out of the tree and sheathed it once more.

Now that Sasuke knew what he was going to do, he should do as he had planned and analyze what his clone observed _before_ those fucking bastards started inappropriately touching his Naruto.

Sasuke scowled, he would not allow himself to dwell upon those images.

From what his clone observed, those fucking bastards are pretty close to his dobe and protective of him as well.

They didn't seem surprised by Naruto's blank-ness. Just the opposite, really; the team seemed surprised that Naruto was showing any form of emotion. They seemed even more surprised when Naruto started to speak.

Sasuke's scowl slowly slipped into a smirk. His clone had activated his sharingan, so he could read Naruto's lips and Naruto was starting to say _his_ name.

Sasuke's smirk widened. His clone observed those fucking bastards get riled up about guessing who had fought Naruto. And Naruto seemed to brighten each time Sasuke's name was either about to be said aloud by himself or when it was by Sai.

His clone had been paying close attention to Naruto, as well as he should have been, but through the sharingan, the clone had observed everything and could read the lips of whoever was talking.

Sasuke looked back to what that bastard Sai and that other fucking bastard were talking about after they took Naruto back to their campsite.

His scowl returned when he remembered his clone observing lips forming the words "_HE found out about mind control jutsu_?"

A growl escaped Sasuke's own lips. THAT is what changed about Naruto. Those bastards were controlling him! They were controlling his Naruto's mind!

Sasuke remembered his clone observing that bastard Sai_'_s hand signs as he once again forcibly sedated his dobe's mind after he was becoming aware of his surroundings through Sasuke's name.

Those fucking bastards had a lot more crimes to pay for than unspeakably violated an unaware Naruto.

Sasuke was going to make sure they paid for each crime.

* * *

><p><strong>So that's the chapter!<strong>

**Thank you so much for favoriting and alerting the story!**

**And a special thanks for those who take the time to review! ;) I read each one and take them into consideration whenever I am writing a new chapter.**

**I hope this chapter answers a little of your questions, and if not please understand that there are more chapters and the story has not finished yet. All things will be explained in time for those who are patient.**

**Thank you for reading and have a Merry Christmas! Or Happy Holidays to be politically correct.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I own no one in the Naruto Universe**

**So it's New Year's Eve when I started to write this chapter. I wonder how long it would take to finish it. Buh-bah-BAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!**

**Onward with the story!**

* * *

><p>Tsunade was beyond pissed.<p>

First, she had to forgo her long awaited afternoon nap. She had actually _worked_ this morning with the mental promise to take her nap. Her nap was the only thing that kept her plowing through those never-ending mountains of paperwork! And now it's an hour past her nap time and she's still awake!

The reason for her being awake was the main reason she was beyond pissed.

The two elders were here.

Tsunade hated them with a passion. She hated how Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane fancied themselves to be the true leaders of Konoha as the self-proclaimed most respected elders of Konoha Council. _Tsunade_ is the Hokage, dammit! Not them!

Yet here they are, "inviting" themselves into her office right before her nap, acting as if she should be _honored_ that they are blessing her with their revered presence.

Then they announce that Sai's team is returning and that they would be running the proceedings as the team was sent on a reserve mission.

When the team did arrive, it was three members. Sai, his supposed vice—or more accurately, translator from human to Sai as Tsunade understood—Kohaku, and her gaki.

Tsunade so dearly wanted to speak to Naruto, but those two damn elders ran the meeting. They asked all the questions about the mission as Sai answered. Kohaku and Naruto kneeled on the side with their masks on and facing downwards.

And it wasn't just during the meeting! It was during _every_ mission assignment and debriefing! Those two claimed that it was because the team did such vital work for the village that they oversee all aspects of such missions. Tsunade had tried calling Naruto in for solo missions just so she could speak with him one-on-one, but before she could send the order they would shut it down claiming that Naruto is too valuable and sought after to send him solo. Tsunade had tried confidentially calling for him, but they would pop in uninvited either just before she would send for him or when he was supposed to arrive. They would then have the audacity to play the rank card and claim to be simply checking up on things, but Tsunade could see through the façade; they were keeping her away from Naruto.

The gaki had changed. He was no longer the boy that would constantly shout his dreams; he no longer spoke of his dream to become Hokage anymore. He no longer spoke to anyone. He only did missions on Sai's team. And he no longer played any pranks; no longer shown any signs of real life.

Tsunade kept trying to direct a question to Naruto, but those damn elders kept interrupting her or Sai would answer them; and Naruto simply stared at the ground next to Kohaku.

Plus she was out of sake.

So Tsunade was beyond pissed; she was _livid_.

"Very well, Captain Sai. You and your team may take the week off. We will inform you of your next mission afterwards."

Tsunade nearly jumped when she heard Utatane give Sai the dismissal. She had been staring at her gaki shouting at him in her mind for him to look up.

Sai had nodded in understanding while Kohaku and Naruto stood.

"Naru—" Tsunade had started to call out, but the three left quickly without a warning or sound like all the other ANBU members that reported in that office.

Tsunade's mood could not have been any worse at the moment. She had Naruto in her office not 15 meters away from her, yet she could not speak with him.

How she longed for those days in the past when the gaki would barge into her office and start harping on her for her drinking, or demanding for a better mission he could deem worthy of his skills. Hell, she even missed being called an old hag by him.

This person who slipped out of her office so fast was no longer her Naruto.

Tsunade almost jumped when those two pompous narcissists—_elders_—announced that they were leaving. They then waited a moment for her to answer; which she refused. Tsunade felt a certain pride for her small rebellion when she saw annoyance flicker across their faces.

When the two left the room, the door hadn't closed when Sakura grabbed hold of the knob and reopened it.

Tsunade let out a sigh of pent up frustration. She had wanted to scour around for more sake and finally take her nap, but her assistant coming in the room in a rush crushed that fleeting dream.

Then Kakashi walked in after Sakura. At the arrival, the Hokage sat up straighter in her chair; that meant they were going to report what had happened in the rendezvous with Uchiha.

She had wanted to have this report done as soon as they returned; but the damn elders were hanging around as Sai's group was returning soon and they didn't want Tsunade to see anyone on the team before them. Plus she had not told those elders about _this_ secret mission on the off chance that it really was the Uchiha sent the message. It was a more likely chance that the message was simply a trick on the village, taking advantage of the Uchiha's old ties to it; but Tsunade did not want to risk telling the elders.

She had wondered if it were really him sending the message. What would Uchiha want with the Leaf anyways? He had made it pretty clear to Naruto—a slight pang of painful reminiscence for the boy from her memories—that he never wanted to come back to the village. If Uchiha wanted to do something malicious then he wouldn't have sent any warning and simply attack. That was always his pattern from before and Tsunade saw no reason to suspect that aspect of him had changed.

Maybe something to do with the abandoned Uchiha District? Most of it had somehow survived Pain's wrath when he destroyed the village.

Tsunade had no idea what the boy wanted and sent Sakura and Kakashi to intercept whoever sent the message. She knew that if those two caught wind that Uchiha was near then they would insist on going with or without her permission so she opted for the former. She was also sure that those two would make the poor soul who would dare try to fool the village pay in more ways than sending the mangled victim to the hospital if it really was a trick.

She stared intently at the group as they walked into her office. They had no wounds or ruffled clothing so either there was no fight or the victim didn't match their intensity. They had somewhat calm faces—Kakashi more than Sakura and she looked apprehensive—so that meant that either it really was Uchiha or they had resigned themselves to him never returning.

"Well?" she asked, knowing full well that they know to what she was referring.

"It was Sasuke, Lady Hokage." Kakashi answered.

"And?" she asked while masking the surprise she felt that it was really Uchiha and not a rouse like she predicted.

"He wants to return to the village!" Sakura burst out.

'_What_?' Tsunade shouted in her head. As Hokage, she had learnt to not get too emotional during a debriefing. And her experience with Naruto—another pang of painful reminiscence—taught her that the Uchiha issue should be handled with the utmost care when in the presence of Team 7.

So instead of shouting her confusion, Tsunade simply retuned her gaze to Kakashi who nodded the confirmation of the truth.

Abandoning her calmed appearance, Tsunade slumped into her chair. This was not happening. This _couldn't_ be happening. She had always expected Naruto—pang—to be the one to force Uchiha back via dragging him. The Uchiha almost _killed_ Naruto—pang—when leaving the village! Now Uchiha wants to return?

"Why?" She knew her questions were short, but she couldn't process words to ask longer questions and these were straight to the point.

"Naruto." Both Kakashi and Sakura answered together.

—Pang—There was another painful reminder of her once smiling gaki.

"He-he said he loves him." Sakura said with her eyes firmly on the ground.

Giving a frustrated sigh Tsunade said, "Tell me what happened."

Kakashi was the one to answer, "We arrived at the meeting place indicated from the message and Sasuke was already there. We confirmed his identity and asked why he had requested the meeting. He then told us of his desire to return to Konoha and recognized as well as accepted and retribution the council would give him for returning. He then reconfirmed his decision to come back. His reasoning being his feelings for Naruto." A breath, then Kakashi continued, "Sasuke also informed us that last night he met Naruto."

At this, Tsunade shot up to a proper sitting position. Uchiha saw Naruto?

Noticing the Hokage's reaction, Kakashi continued, "He said that he and Naruto fought and wanted to know why Naruto seemed different."

At this, Tsunade's stomach seemed to clench. It was one thing to notice the difference herself of the boy she loves as family to this lifeless shell, but another to hear it from another person. She looked downward when her gaki's name was mentioned.

"But he also said that Naruto recognized him!" Sakura said in clear excitement.

Tsunade's head shot up and her eyes fixated on Sakura. Did she say that her gaki actually recognized Uchiha?

Tsunade felt waves of emotion fall over her! Elation at the probability that Naruto was the same Naruto she loved! Excitement for the possibility that the recognition could mean that her Naruto would break out of the lifeless shell and return to them! A slight pang of jealousy that Uchiha—UCHIHA! The one who had hurt Naruto for all these years—was the one he recognized and not those who have been here worrying about him.

But among the happiness that threatened to bring tears to her eyes, the bitter voice of logic and reality snuck in.

"Naruto recognized Uchiha?" Tsunade said in an even, careful tone. She did not betray how much the answer meant to her.

The other two understood, though. They probably felt this way when Uchiha told them about the recognition.

"Yes. Sasuke said that he had disarmed Naruto and held him in place when Naruto had recognized him." Kakashi answered and Tsunade shifted her eyes back to him. "He told us that then he left, leaving a shadow clone to observe Naruto until he returns and wishes to know more about the change at a later time when we next meet him." At this, Kakashi walked over and left a scroll with Sasuke's massage of the time and location he'd be the next. "At such time, he said that he'd answer any questions we have for him."

Taking the scroll and reading the time and place, Tsunade was silently thinking things over. She still was not sure of Uchiha's resolve. She hadn't known him for too long before he left. She thought maybe his reasoning _could_ be true as she remembered that the boy had rushed and pushed himself past his limits when he heard that the Akatsuki was after Naruto and got injured in the process. She had thought it was merely for his twisted revenge but maybe…

Tsunade inwardly shook her head. It would not help her judgment if she tried to analyze the past. He could be using his past as a part of Team 7 to manipulate Sakura and Kakashi into believing him foe whatever ulterior motive he may or may not have.

But Naruto—pang—recognized him! Even through this horribly empty lifeless shell, Naruto recognized Uchiha. Tsunade would not lie to herself and say that she wasn't interested in that at all. She wanted to know more: how he had shown his recognition and what he did afterwards.

Tsunade made up her mind.

"You two will return to meet Uchiha, but this time _I_ will be joining you as well. I will ask the needed questions myself and judge his return from there." She said as she stood up.

"Yes, Lady Hokage." The other two replied. Kakashi was calm, almost as if he had expected Tsunade to announce that she would accompany them all along. Sakura was slightly confused at the announcement, but nonetheless excited and happier than Tsunade had seen her since her gaki had changed.

While the three made plans to sneak out to meet Uchiha at the designated time and place, they did not notice a little ink mouse in the corner of the room scurrying back outside.

* * *

><p><strong>And that's the chapter!<strong>

**Yep, three days to write it with about I'm guesstimating less than three hours to actually write. I have the plot all written out in a neat little outline in my doodle notebook where I keep all my ideas and such so I can write them later while I write my current stories. It's just that I don't always have the time and consistency to actually write it like so many others like me as I have schedule stuff and distracting internet.**

**Please review and let me know what you think of the story so far ^_^**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or anyone in the Naruto world.**

**Eeeeeewww. I'm watching House and the cute med student girl just fake-threw up out of inner turmoil which is understandable considering House just told her that he purposefully set her up for his own bidding, but in her fake-throwing up some of her lovely red hair drooped into the toilet. Bleh. Even though the toilet is most likely completely clean and sanitary (I had to test the toilet water for class to teach us how to take the test and it was cleaner than tests from 5 years ago or so) but still! Hair in the toilet: eeeeew.**

**Warning: cover your innocent eyes if you no likey yaoi.**

**Onward with the chapter.**

* * *

><p>Sai assumed he was worrying.<p>

Ever since he met Naruto, Sai has become more interested in emotions. Sai would admit he mostly got more interested in Naruto's emotions, but the interest did expand to others as well as himself.

Sai would ask Naruto about emotions from time to time while the two were a part of Team Kakashi. He would ask Naruto what some emotions felt like as well as the symptoms of them; then Naruto would smile widely and laugh, telling Sai that emotions were not diseases.

Then Naruto would get a thoughtful look on his face, usually facing forwards rather than Sai who usually placed himself to the side. Naruto would then try to articulate the symptoms and signs of the emotion Sai asked about; sometimes miming it out and giving facial expressions as examples. He would also give situations where one might feel said emotion. When Sai thought he understood enough to recognize the emotion and tell Naruto of his thanks.

Naruto would then face Sai and smile, telling him it was no problem. Sai recognized the smile as a sign of happiness. The happiness Naruto would sometimes experience when he helped others.

If Sai were to ask Naruto what emotion he was currently feeling, Naruto would tell him that he is feeling "worry".

His stomach was clenching, he had the need to fidget, and he had the desire to distract himself. According to Naruto, those were signs and symptoms of worry.

Sai didn't need to recall the little lecture about worry because he knew exactly why he was _feeling_.

Sasuke Uchiha.

Uchiha had come into contact with Naruto at the end of their last mission and the two fought. While that alone would not have mattered much as Naruto is a member of his elite ANBU squad and Uchiha is a missing nin, but unfortunately Uchiha had gotten a reaction out of Naruto.

At that, Sai felt a _jealousy_—or so Kohaku had diagnosed—that Naruto had reacted to Sasuke.

Sai knew that Naruto would not react to him; unless he changed jutsu controlling Naruto. The defenses he had set in Naruto's mind should have made Uchiha unable to get nothing but preprogrammed reactions.

Anyone who came within 10 meters would have alerted Naruto's defenses. If they were members of the team, Naruto was preset to recognize them as teammates rather than an enemy. The person could leave the premises in safety if they did not come any closer or set off any other defense triggers. If they came any closer: Naruto would attack.

While it is true that Naruto was on sentry mode, if he was triggered then he would automatically switch to his attack mode. Naruto's attack mode was not as strong or powerful as his ultimate mode when he could be accurately defined as the deadliest human weapon, but his attack mode was as deadly as any other elite ANBU Black Op.

So in all rights, Uchiha should not have had the chance to get close enough to do anything to Naruto.

But according to the ink mouse he had left in the Hokage's office, Uchiha had gotten a reaction from Naruto by holding him.

Somehow, Uchiha had weakened the jutsu Naruto was under through touch and continued to weaken if any time his name was mentioned.

So part of this _worry_ (and _jealousy_) was because Uchiha could—and did—weaken the mind control jutsu so easily.

The other part of this _worry_ was because of the chance that because of Uchiha's discovery the Hokage and other members of Team Seven might learn the details of the mind control jutsu Naruto is under.

Sai knew that Naruto's old team and acquaintances wanted to know why Naruto had changed. They had luckily stopped directly trying to contact Naruto. Sai and the rest of the team used to have to set barriers around wherever they had camped Naruto out for the time between missions due to the amount of people who wanted to speak with the stoic shell.

They were also subject to many spontaneous reserve missions by the elders due to the Hokage or Kakashi requesting Naruto for other missions. Thankfully, the elders have successfully blocked all other attempts to his old team requesting Naruto.

Sai had thought that people were accepting the fact that they can't "change Naruto back" and let things be, but with Uchiha telling others that he had gotten a reaction out of Naruto renewed the interest in Naruto's change.

If the Hokage and the others learn that Naruto is actually under the mind control jutsu, then they could possibly try to take Naruto away from him.

That possibility made Sai _worried_ more than anything else.

Sai looked over to the living room where Naruto sat; staring at a painting Sai drew for him.

While on missions, Sai would usually put Naruto on alert; always prepared to slip into attack mode. But when they were at home, Sai would place Naruto into a tranquil state of mind. He had found that idyllic scenes like landscapes or other things in nature seemed to keep Naruto content while in this state.

He used to take Naruto to places that he had shown Sai while the two were a part of Team Kakashi like a special field in the woods, a sakura tree, a lake he would pass by as a child, or the Hokage Monument. But he couldn't risk taking Naruto outside with the renewed interest in "changing Naruto back" fueled by Uchiha.

So he drew the scenery for Naruto as a substitute.

Sai walked over to where Naruto sat on the floor and pulled him onto his lap.

No. They would _not_ take Naruto away from him.

Sai pulled the younger blonde closer into a hug, feeling _anger_. _Anger_ at anyone who would dare take his Naruto away from him and _anger_ at Uchiha.

Breathing in Naruto's scent, Sai whispered Naruto's name. He also felt another pang of _jealousy_ that Uchiha had gotten Naruto to react to something as little as his name.

Sai knew that Naruto would not react to Sai unless Sai made it so.

Sai knew this ever since he was called into a meeting with the village elders.

After the Pain incident, the elders decided that Naruto was too unstable as a jinchuuriki. He had almost set the fox loose, allowing the seal to become so weak that he let the fox reach eight tails.

They decided that Naruto didn't have enough control over the seal, so they decided to take the matter into their own hands.

Since Sai used to be a member of ROOT, they knew that he would understand the methods they would use to take care of the village. Plus, Sai was Uchiha's replacement for Team Kakashi so their transition for Naruto from Tsunade's control to theirs would appear seamless if Naruto was placed on an ANBU Squad led by Sai.

Sai knew that there was no point in arguing, so he agreed. The two elders taught Sai the mind control jutsu they created just for the Kyuubi container.

At first, the mind control jutsu was originally made to keep Konoha safe from their jinchuuriki. The jutsu would keep him quiet and in the village for future use rather than loud and traveling like he used to under the Hokage's control. With the new jutsu, they would know exactly where the jinchuuriki is at all times for their convenience.

Soon after the jutsu was placed on Naruto, the two elders realized how much of a use he could be under their control. They realized that they could mold Naruto to become the Ultimate Weapon they always intended the jinchuurikis to be. With a few alterations to their jutsu with Sai's help, they discovered Naruto's use on reserve missions.

So under Sai's watch, Naruto has been going on more missions. Sai was amazed with what this newly controlled Naruto would do. The old Naruto would hesitate on the basis of what they were expected to do, but the controlled Naruto would do anything Sai would tell him to do without question.

Soon, Sai got _curious_ about how far he could take things with Naruto. He had always known that he had special _feelings_ for the blonde, and this was the perfect way to not only test how effective the jutsu is but to also confirm if these feelings are real.

The first time he kissed Naruto definitely confirmed he had strong feelings for Naruto. When he felt Naruto's soft lips pressed on his own, he knew that he was beginning to feel what Naruto had called _love_.

He had also felt _disappointment_ when he realized how well the jutsu worked. Naruto did not respond at all. While Sai was in his own version of ecstasy from his first kiss with Naruto, the latter merely let it happen. Sai's eyes were closed as he greedily tried to arise some form of passion he knew Naruto was capable of feeling, but Naruto's eyes stayed open while he remained stoic.

After some unsuccessful licking and biting of Naruto's lower lip as a silent gesture for entrance, Sai manually opened Naruto's mouth. Sai had immediately explored, tasting Naruto and nearly moaning from the _pleasure_ he felt from both the simple act of being able to kiss Naruto as well as from the arousal he was experiencing himself.

But through it all, Naruto remained impassive. He never closed his eyes in ecstasy like Sai did, there was no fight for dominance as his mouth was invaded by Sai's roaming tongue, there was just no reaction.

Sai knew the lack of reaction was because the mind control jutsu practically made Naruto into an impassive doll; but Naruto is _his_ doll.

After some time on missions with Naruto, Sai continued to further his experiments with the jutsu and his feelings. He had become intrigued by the sheer _desire_ for the other man he felt.

It was during this time that he discovered how to make Naruto react in some way to his advances. He realized it would be a lot like when he made Naruto switch from a tranquil state to attack mode. He simply gave made his mind more susceptible to sexual urges.

Sai began to have sex with Naruto at the end of practically every mission. While in this amorous state, Naruto would physically react to Sai's touches. Sai was surprised that he wanted more, but at the same time knew that he wouldn't if Naruto was not under the jutsu's influence. It was always Uchiha with Naruto.

Sometime later, others had joined his team. Sai was inclined to keep Naruto all to himself, but he knew that what he was doing was inappropriate and he suspected that if others learnt of his activities then Naruto would be assigned to another ROOT member that the elders would choose.

So Sai allowed Naruto to be shared. He was intrigued by how much emotion Naruto could bring forth from others even while he was basically a doll. The whole team reacted to Naruto, even Sai himself. Sai found it all to be very interesting.

But he was not above what Kohaku had told his was _jealousy_. He made sure that the team knew that Naruto was ultimately _his_. Naruto could only be penetrated by _him_. And at the end of the missions, Naruto would go home with _him_.

Because Sai was feeling what Naruto had described as _love_. He wanted to be near the blonde as much as he could. He found himself caring more for Naruto than his own well-being. Any thought of Naruto being taken away from him made him feel _fear_. And just being near Naruto made him feel _happy_.

Sai felt so strongly about this, that he insisted that Naruto would come to live with him. The elders agreed as setting up barriers and guards around Naruto's old, shabby apartment from those curious about Naruto's changed demeanor visiting it at seemingly all hours had become tedious and impractical.

Now Naruto lived with Sai and slept with him in the same bed, ate meals together, relaxed together, and had intercourse at Sai's where they both lived together.

They were sitting in _their_ living room and Sai was quite content with the current situation.

Sai gave his Naruto another squeeze to calm himself down. There was no way that he'd allow Uchiha to ruin the life he had worked to set up.

Uchiha would _not_ take Naruto away from him!

Sai was overtaken with a sudden possessive wave of _jealousy_ and decided to act upon it.

He turned Naruto around. Impossible blue eyes void of emotion stared back at him.

Sai performed the necessary hand movements and placed his palm against Naruto's forehead.

He didn't—couldn't—wait for Naruto to fully set into the amorous mind set; Sai had to claim Naruto as his own.

Now.

Sai enclosed Naruto's lips with his own, at the same time, roaming his hands around Naruto's figure.

He continuously kissed those alluring lips while exploring the familiar torso until he felt Naruto's breathing become heavier, panting almost.

Sai bit Naruto's lower lip as a trigger for entrance, which he received; his tongue roamed the warm cavern. Sai wanted to memorize Naruto's taste.

Breaking the kiss, Sai lifted Naruto's shirt and threw it next to the couch. He began to kiss Naruto's neck, stopping at the spots he knew Naruto was sensitive and sucking on them.

While he did this, Sai wrapped Naruto's arms around his own neck to bring them closer to each other. Then he reached in between them to roam around Naruto's smooth torso, stopping at his nipples.

Sai rubbed and pinched them until he felt Naruto jerk a little against him and pant more; an arousal-induced blush formed on Naruto's cheeks.

Sai felt _joy_ whenever he felt Naruto respond to his advancements. He felt _pride_ when he thought that only he could get such a response from his precious doll. Sai felt _pleased_ whenever he felt Naruto pant against him. He _smiled_ whenever he saw that blush forming on Naruto.

Sai lifted Naruto, and carried him to the couch; all the while kissing him deeply.

Once Naruto's back hit the cushions, Sai quickly removed both of their pants and undergarments.

He meandered across Naruto's chest with his tongue while his hand rubbed against Naruto's semi-hard erection. He wrapped his hands around Naruto's member and began pumping.

As Naruto became more aroused, so did Sai. He grabbed a bottle of lube in an open drawer in a table with a reading lamp next to the couch.

He applied the lubricant on his fingers and stuck one inside Naruto's entrance.

Naruto gasped a little in slight pain. Sai—while quite _enjoying_, aw hell, _loving _the sound of Naruto's voice gasping from any action made by him—didn't want Naruto to feel pain to he started to stretch out the muscle.

To slightly distract Naruto from the pain, he had moved his mouth from Naruto's chest to his manhood and engulfed as much as he could in his mouth, sucking on it and swirling his tongue.

He wanted to memorize this taste as well.

Naruto moaned a little and Sai felt the _joy_ he felt from hearing Naruto's moan translate into arousal.

Sai inserted another finger and received another gasp. He started to make scissoring motions while sucking even harder on Naruto. He even started to bob his head around the younger man.

When he inserted the third finger, he started to feel around for Naruto's prostate to make the pain turn into pleasure.

He knew he had found it when he felt Naruto buck against him and unleashing a loud moan.

The moan set Sai over the edge.

Retracting the fingers and removing his mouth from around Naruto, Sai placed more lubricant over his hand and began to pump himself while spreading the lube on his own member. He would not be overly forceful with Naruto.

When he was practically bursting and all lubed up, he placed himself in front of Naruto's entrance and thrust.

Naruto had finally closed his eyes and his face was adorably flushed as Sai thrust harder and harder into him.

Sai once again found Naruto's prostate and Naruto let out quiet exclamations that were almost overpowered by their combined heavy breathing.

Sai was close; Naruto was always so warm and tight around him.

"Naruto." He whispered as he thrust even harder.

With a small cry, Naruto came. Sai followed soon after as Naruto tightened around him.

After they had both calmed down, Naruto fell asleep. After his aroused state of mind, he would need a couple of hours to sleep it off.

Sai grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around the both of them as he pulled Naruto close to him when they both lay down. He snuck an arm under Naruto and pulled him into a warm embrace, placing Naruto's head next to his chest so he could bury his face in the smaller man's golden hair and breathe his scent. He wanted to memorize Naruto's smell.

Naruto was his.

Uchiha will never take Naruto away from him.

Never.

* * *

><p><strong>And that was the chapter.<strong>

**I do not actually hate Sai. I mean, I did in his first few episodes. I was all "YOU'RE NOT SASUKE!" and cursing him out whenever he insulted Naruto and froze when he brought up Sasuke. I cheered a little when Sakura bitch-slapped the mofo.**

**But I don't hate him. I love how Sai has blossomed under Naruto's influence. It was just so much easier to use Sai for this story rather than make up an OC character. I was going to do that originally, but using Sai made more sense to me in the end and I created the rest of the team to fulfill little things I was going to make the OC character do along with an OC partner I was considering.**

**But please don't be all hatin' on Sai much. This chapter is important for the story; but I promise you that the meeting between Sasuke and others will be next chapter and I'll update within a week.**

**Thank you for the favorites/alerts and ESPECIALLY for the reviews. Keep 'em comin' because I judge which story I should pay attention to based off of reviews peoples give me.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I don't own anyone in the Naruto universe.**

**I love the Family Guy versions of Star Wars! I'm watching IT'S A TRAP! And even though I'm not laughing on the outside, I'm actually very content and charmed on the inside. I love how they point out all these plot holes like keeping that hole in the Death Star.**

**On a side note, I never liked Leah. I mean she is NOT hot! In the first one, she's all Princess** **Cinnabon with that weird hairdo. Then she's Princess One-Bun with her new hairstyle and was the female empowerment character. Then she's Princess No-Buns as she has no ass at all. It's completely flat. So is her chest, just saying. People claim **_**that**_** is the hottest she's ever been? I can't help but scream in my head 'COVER UP!' during those scenes.**

**Anyway, my beginning babbles aren't like the Star Wars babbles where you burst out laughing and pause to actually read it. They are just babbles that don't have anything to do with much besides what I'm currently doing.**

**Onwards with the story!**

* * *

><p>Sakura was having a little trouble keeping up with Kakashi-Sensei on the way meet with Sasuke. She didn't dare ask Kakashi-Sensei to slow down; he was just as anxious to see Sasuke as she was. Besides, she was no longer a weak little girl in need of protection or assistance. She wanted to prove to herself that she could have as much endurance as anyone else.<p>

As she jumped from branch to branch, her mind wandered—as it always seemed to—towards her failures. She had always hated how her teammates always had to save her; how she always got in the way. She had lost some of her pride as a ninja due to all the times she's played the damsel despite training so hard for so long. She had lost her first love when Sasuke left the village. And worst of all, what she considered to be her biggest failure: she lost her best friend.

A tear threatened to fall as she berated herself for thinking about Naruto after she had promised herself that she wouldn't think about him until she, Sasuke, Kakashi-Sensei and Lady Tsunade officially talked about him. It was too painful to think about her best friend.

Out of all the regrets she's had in her life, how she treated Naruto as a child was her biggest. She couldn't stand that she merely allowed and even participated in Naruto's suffering. And she absolutely could not stand that part of her that would constantly shoot down and insult the innocent, anguished boy who did nothing but show her the devotion and respect she so dearly desired. When they got older, she had tried her best to make up for all the damage she had caused, but only seemed to hurt Naruto more with her inadequateness. All she ever did was rely on Naruto to make things better for her.

She understood that Naruto had wanted to bring Sasuke back for more than just the promise she had forced him to make and she felt quite conceited for even thinking that she was the only reason Naruto was trying so hard; but she couldn't help but feel that while she may not be the only reason that she herself was a constant reminder to the pained boy of his own insecurities she couldn't do anything about.

And finally, she couldn't protect him when he really needed her. She was _there_ when Naruto was called into a meeting with the elders. She was the last person Naruto smiled at before he had changed!

She could still see it in her mind's eye! The two were at Ichiraku's, talking about the aftermath of how Pain invaded. Naruto was confiding how tired he was and was telling Sakura how all he wanted to do was get a proper night's sleep since people have been visiting and demanding his presence ever since he defeated Pain. He was telling Sakura to not worry about how she had invited him to ramen and subsequently interrupted the only time he's had to take a nap for the first time since then and was in the middle of telling her that she should know that he'd always make time for her no matter how trivial the occasion seemed to her, making her feel that special way that could only seem to be inspired by his sincere smile.

Then an ANBU Black Op came and told Naruto that the elders had called for him. Naruto was confused as to why the elders had wanted to see him and Sakura could tell by his ever expressive eyes that he was worried and a bit scared. At the time, all she wanted to do was to make that fear go away so she had told him that everything would be alright and to hurry and go so the two could finish their unofficial date.

The tear that threatened to fall was joined by others and freely fell as Sakura rushed after Kakashi. She had told Naruto that everything would be alright! She—SHE, SAKURA—was the one who told Naruto to go to the elders! She was the last person to see the cheerful Naruto and she was the one who hurried him away! She told him to HURRY!

Memories suddenly flowed un-relentlessly through Sakura 's mind. Both memories of _her_ Naruto as well as this _other_ shell of what used to be the best friend she's ever had flowed without order and without mercy.

A sob escaped, followed by more. Sakura couldn't help it! Naruto really _was_ the best friend she could ever ask for! He truly cared about her, about her physically as well as emotionally. If she ever felt as if things were too much to handle, there he'd be with a smile that put her at ease. If she needed to vent, he'd be there with a sympathetic ear. If she needed to cry, he'd be there with a comforting shoulder. If she ever needed _anything_, he'd be there.

Suddenly, Kakashi-Sensei stopped in front of her. Through her tears, Sakura met the gaze of his visible eye. He placed a large hand on her shoulder and handed her a handkerchief Sakura didn't know he had on him.

Hiccupping a little, Sakura accepted with a watery smile that couldn't reach her eyes.

"We all miss him." Kakashi-Sensei said in a soothing voice. Sakura could see that this meeting meant as much to him as much as it did to her. They were both hoping—_needing_—Sasuke to offer them some new information about Naruto and how to get THEIR Naruto back! Or at least be able to successfully bring him to their safe house so Lady Tsunade could help them think of a plan.

"And we WILL get Naruto back." Kakashi-Sensei said in the same soothing voice.

". . .P-Promise?" Sakura asked as she wiped the tears away, but she knew it was unfair of her to ask such a thing.

Kakashi-Sensei only answered with a look in his eyes that told Sakura that they both knew despite their wishes, he couldn't promise such a thing. What he said was essentially just words; but words the both of them desperately needed to hear.

With a pat on the shoulder, Kakashi-Sensei turned and started to rush forwards with Sakura following close behind.

Sakura inwardly thanked Kakashi-Sensei. She needed that little mini-breakdown. Now she could calm down and focus on the meeting with Sasuke, even though that brought along its own personal drama.

A little part of her still loved Sasuke, but that was the boy from her memories. She cognitively understood that Sasuke would never return those feelings towards her. Besides, Sasuke had clearly stated that he loves Naruto.

It made total sense. Naruto was the only one who could bring Sasuke out of his stoic solitude, and Naruto was the only one who never wavered in his faith in Sasuke.

Naruto wa—IS—her best friend. Even as this empty shell of her Naruto, he would forever and always be her friend. She could not give Naruto was he deserved. Naruto deserved someone who would lay down their life for him; someone who treated him right; someone who wouldn't rely on him for everything; someone who would protect his smile.

Sasuke was willing to do all that and more. Sakura could tell the sincerity of his love by the emotion he usually shut away that crept into his eyes and voice. And as physical proof, Sasuke was willingly coming back to Konoha! He spent months preparing himself for the consequences as well as solid reasoning—whatever that could be—for his betrayal. All for Naruto.

She still had feelings for Sasuke Uchiha, but more than anything Sakura wanted Naruto to finally be happy. She would do anything to have him smile again.

Kakashi-Sensei was slowing down. That meant that they were nearing the meeting place.

Sakura became alert, she knew that no one had followed her as well as that Sasuke would not risk anything in his returning to the village; but she is a ninja and ninja are always on alert.

Sakura could see a clearing, yet something was off.

She and Kakashi-Sensei slowed down to a stop, and cautiously walked towards a lone figure Sakura could barely identify as Sasuke in the middle of the clearing.

Kakashi-Sensei stepped halfway in front of her when they both could see the surrounding damage of the clearing they were in. Some trees were cut down and chopped into pieces. A boulder or two were also cut clean through. A few other trees were left without bark. Sakura could swear she saw some massive craters behind the protection of the shadows, but that wasn't what was "off" about this situation.

It was Sasuke.

His back was turned to the two, but Sakura could see that he was close to losing his mind or something. He was clearly bothered. His clothes were all ruffled, stained, ripped in some places, and all together just unpresentable.

But his body language was what really surprised Sakura. Usually, he was a statue emitting pure "whatever" vibes that clearly stated that he didn't care what was going on around him. He showed no emotion, nothing but a cool—and completely hot—exterior.

But now he was pacing back and forth, constantly grabbing at his hair and making exasperated sounds of pure anger. Sakura had _never_ seen Sasuke like this.

"S-Sasuke?" she called hesitantly. She gasped when he turned around.

Sasuke's expression was wild. His Sharingan was activated, his face was molded in a maddening frown. His hair was unruly, sticking out in random directions as a result of his constant fisting of them. The effect only made Sasuke seem more unstable.

"Sasuke," Kakashi-Sensei said in a tone of patient authority he would use during their genin days, "what happened?"

The simple question seemed to set Sasuke off. He paced even faster, while facing them so they could see his Sharingan spin, he kept babbling nonsense.

"I. . .they. . .the dobe. . .TOY!. . .bastards. . .kill. . .fucking MURDER. . .how dare they. . .toy. . .make them pay. . ." were the only coherent words Kakashi-Sensei and Sakura could understand. The rest were mumblings and other ramblings.

Sakura was worried. She had never, NEVER seen Sasuke like this. Sasuke never lost control!

Sakura sent a lost look towards Kakashi-Sensei. Maybe he knew what to do?

To Sakura's immense relief, Kakashi-Sensei seemed to prove her right. He stepped forward in front of Sasuke's pacing. When Sasuke looked up, Sakura flinched back but Kakashi stood his ground.

"Sasuke, calm down." Kakashi –Sensei said, still using the same tone, "We are going to take you to a safe house in Konoha so you and Lady Tsunade can talk. We can safely take you within the village, but you need to calm down."

Sakura sucked in a breathe and unconsciously made a half step forward as to stop Kakashi-Sensei as he placed a hand on Sasuke's shoulder to calm him down, much like how he had calmed Sakura.

Sasuke was breathing heavily, Sharingan still exposed, but he had stopped moving.

Sakura was amazed by Kakashi-Sensei's many skills. Not only did Kakashi-Sensei successfully walk to and touch Sasuke, but he was also succeeding in calming down the enraged Uchiha. Sasuke was staring at Kakashi-Sensei's calm demeanor, taking in its example and slowly his Sharingan faded.

Sasuke turned away, mumbling "I'm fine."

Sakura sighed in relief. Sasuke was normal again, though she didn't yet have the courage to approach him yet. But that's fine because Kakashi-Sensei will explain everything to Sasuke. . .

No, dammit! Sakura _can't_ let others do everything for her. This is about Naruto. She _had_ to take more initiative.

"Sasuke, are you ready to go?" Sakura said in a tone she hoped had a calming effect that Kakashi-Sensei effortlessly talked in.

Sasuke paused, taking some deep breathes before saying in a somewhat hoarse voice, "Go where?" looking towards Kakashi-Sensei.

Sakura tried not to take it personally, Kakashi-Sensei did have that authoritative aura about him that assured people that he knew what he was talking about and Sakura would have turned to him, too.

Kakashi-Sensei's eye was still on Sasuke when he answered calmly, "Because of the delicate nature of your returning, we need to take you directly to Lady Hokage. And because you told us that Naruto responded to you, we have a chance to learn what happened to him—"

Kakashi-Sensei paused a little as Sasuke's sharingan briefly activated but Sasuke seemed to gain control of himself as they deactivated and he took a deep breath.

"—and find a way to change him back." Kakashi-Sensei continued after a little hesitation, "But because we believe the elders are somehow involved, we can't let them know what we plan to do. So we have to meet in a safe house inside the village."

"Inside the village?" Sasuke asked, voice still hoarse.

"Yes, Sasuke," Sakura cut in, "Lady Tsunade can't leave the village without suspicion."

"Hn." Sasuke grunted to show his understanding of the situation.

"Sasuke," Kakashi-Sensei said to get the boy's attention, "we'll be leaving in a few minutes. Sakura and I will be over there." Kakashi pointed behind some trees, then motioned for Sakura to follow him.

She did so feeling extremely confused, "Sensei, why do we—"

Sakura was cut off by a sudden scream of frustration behind her. She tried to turn around, but was stopped by Kakashi-Sensei. He simply shook his head and faced forward to give Sasuke a little bit of privacy.

She got the hint and also faced forwards, but couldn't stay as still as Kakashi-Sensei did. She kept fidgeting, but she couldn't help it! This was the first step in getting Naruto back!

After a little while, the two heard Sasuke walking behind them, and then he said, "Ready."

Kakashi-Sensei gave Sakura a small signal, and immediately jumped up to the tree branches. Sakura followed, and then Sasuke.

As distance was passed, Sakura soon found herself once again trying to keep up to her old team. Kakashi-Sensei and Sasuke were almost moving at the same pace with Sakura several paces behind. The difference this time was that Sakura had actually succeeded in not thinking about Naruto.

But that was only because she was debating with herself about how she felt about Sasuke returning.

She knew for a fact that she wanted him to return. She always did. But that used to be because of old memories of Team Seven and because of her lingering love. But Sasuke loves Naruto, like for _real_ love. The kind a girl dreams of when she imagines her wedding with a prince forever devoted to her.

She was trying to sort out this new information and continue to letting go of her old feelings when Kakashi-Sensei signaled that they were approaching Konoha.

At the signal, he and Sasuke stopped on the branch in front of them and waited for Sakura to catch up with them.

When she did, Kakashi-Sensei turned to Sasuke and told him quietly to make a henge. Sasuke had chosen to copy someone they had met on an escort mission before. Someone important enough to warrant getting escorted, but not so much that people would actually remember him. But the guy would always visit the village before and after he was escorted so it would not appear surprising to see him in the village again.

After Sasuke changed and masked his chakra, the three jumped down from the trees and proceeded to walk the rest of the way.

The walk to and through the gates of Konoha went without any problem or a hitch. Sakura knew that it would, but that didn't stop her from feeling deep relief after they were allowed to pass without stopping.

Sasuke had looked at her questioningly—she couldn't stop her heart from fluttering a bit as their eyes met—as she led them opposite of the Hokage tower.

She placed a finger to her lips and refrained from winking like she used to. Flirting would be useless.

With the finger that was placed to her lips, she pointed towards the safe house, or more specifically Shizune's house.

When they got inside Shizune's house, Sakura led the way to the basement. There, they met Lady Tsunade sitting at a table with sake on it.

"Where's Shizune?" Kakashi-Sensei asked in an amused tone as if he already knew the answer and was asking for the others' benefit. Sakura and Sasuke turned to Tsunade for answer.

"She's posing as me at work. I told her to work but she insisted on doing inappropriate things like napping. If those damn elders decide to walk in, they won't be fooled so we have to do this quickly." Tsunade replied as she gestured towards the group to sit.

Kakashi-Sensei remained standing, choosing to stay towards the side of the table closest to the stairs as an un-official lookout. Sakura chose the opposite Kakashi, to the side of Lady Tsunade. Sasuke sat opposite of Lady Tsunade.

Lady Tsunade took a hard look at Sasuke. "Undo the jutsu." She commanded.

Sasuke complied and stared back with expressionless eyes.

The two stared at each other, one judging and analyzing and the other getting slightly annoyed.

"You want to come back." Lady Tsunade said at last. It wasn't a question so much as a statement.

"Yes." Sasuke replied.

"Why?" Lady Tsunade asked, leaning forwards.

"Naruto." Sasuke answered immediately and without shame.

Lady Tsunade slightly flinched as soon as he said Naruto's name. Sakura looked worriedly at her Shishou.

". . .I see." Lady Tsunade managed to say after a pause, "And is that all?"

"Mostly. After I killed Itachi, I learned that he was framed." Sasuke said, then continued as he ignored the startled and confused looks his words inspired, "And I learned that he intended for me to stay in the village. I wasn't going to considering what the village did to my family," his unexpressive eyes showed anger during the last part, but softened as he said, "but I wanted to return to the dobe. So I decided to come back."

Sakura had to repress herself from gasping while Sasuke spoke. What did he mean by Itachi being framed! She almost couldn't believe it and at the same time had a wild urge to comfort the man besides her, but she knew better. Sasuke wouldn't lie about his brother. Sasuke is many things but he is not a liar.

Kakashi-Sensei didn't move or say anything, but Sakura could tell that he was surprised by this new information. But Kakashi-Sensei rarely let others know of his surprise. If he was truly caught off guard, then he'd mostly just show it in his eye and ask them to repeat themselves.

Lady Tsunade closed her eyes as she considered what she had just been told.

"We can look into that later," Lady Tsunade said after a little while, "but now: tell me everything about your encounter with Naruto and anything else pertinent to changing him back."

At this, Sasuke's eyes suddenly showed the rage they expressed earlier, though without the exposed Sharingan. At this, Kakashi-Sensei walked over and sat down next to Sasuke as a reminder to calm down.

Sasuke took a breath and said in a low, dangerous voice, "Naruto is being controlled."

"Controlled?" Lady Tsunade asked immediately, leaning forward with a furious frown on her face.

"That fucking _bastard_ Sai has him under a mind-controlling jutsu." Sasuke elaborated in an icy tone that expressed how truly enraged he is about the situation.

"WHAT?" Sakura nearly shrieked. Naruto had changed so dramatically because he was being controlled? Sakura didn't know what she felt more: relieved or pissed. Relieved because the change finally had a real, singular reasoning that had a chance of being reversed! _Her_ Naruto is still in there! But pissed because of the fact that he's been controlled—_controlled_ like some sort of _animal_—by Sai for nearly over two whole years!

She decided pissed.

Despite Sakura having shouted so loudly, no one reprimanded her. They were all in their own little worlds. Lady Tsunade was muttering something about never forgiving Sai and the elders as well as some very specific threats, all involving some form of dismemberment or poison. Kakashi-Sensei's calm demeanor fell a little as his visible eye was locked on the table in shock, and Sakura could swear she saw anger in it. Sasuke was still fuming.

Lady Tsunade looked back up at Sasuke who matched her angered look, but neither were directly mad at each other.

"Your clone witnessed this?" she asked.

"Hn. Witnessed them discussing the jutsu and the hand signals they used to do it." Sasuke replied icily.

"So you can repeat it?" Lady Tsunade hurriedly asked.

"Yes."

"Okay then. After you show Kakashi how the jutsu works, we'll work on a way to reverse it. Is there anything else your clone witnessed about the jutsu? Did they mention any weaknesses at all?"

"Yes. . .Apparently, while Naruto and I fought, the jutsu weakened." Sasuke answered after a slight pause as his eyes flared some anger when Lady Tsunade asked if his clone had witnessed anything else.

Sakura would have wondered for the reason why, but she was too distracted about how the jutsu could be weakened. Judging by Kakashi-Sensei's expression, he was thinking the same thing.

"It was weakened?" Tsunade repeated the words as a question.

Sakura quickly looked back at Sasuke to see if he would roll his eyes, but he didn't and merely stared back with repressed rage at Sai and the others in Naruto's ANBU squad.

"Yes, he and his lackeys were quite worried. Apparently whenever my name was mentioned while the jutsu was weakened it would deteriorate even more and Naruto would gain more awareness of his surroundings." Sasuke answered and Sakura swore that she saw his eyes soften a bit.

Sakura's heart jumped when she heard this. Not only did they know how to form the jutsu, but they were going to find a way to reverse it! And they also now knew a way to weaken the jutsu to make their jobs easier! Sakura was practically bursting with the happiness this brought!

But at the same she felt a jab of jealousy; she had seen Naruto in this controlled state and that did nothing to the jutsu but the mere mentioning of Sasuke's name weakened the jutsu?

She mentally shook her head. Of course it made sense. The two were meant to be after all. Maybe Naruto didn't _officially_ return Sasuke's romantic feelings, but Sakura knew in her gut that he would if not already does.

"We can use this…" Lady Tsunade muttered as her eyes darted around the table as she organized her thoughts, "Did your clone witness anything else?" She asked, looking back up at Sasuke.

The silence following the question made the room temperature fall several degrees. Warily, Sakura, Kakashi-Sensei, and Lady Tsunade turned to Sasuke and were a little shocked to see a full frown on Sasuke's enraged face with Sharingan activated and spinning. When he finally did speak, it was with a tone even lower and more dangerous than before that would send shivers down the spine of any who heard it.

"Those. Fucking. _Bastards_. Gang. Raped. My. Naruto."

"WHAT?" Everyone else in the room screamed simultaneously.

Sasuke silenced them all with a chilling glare that basically screamed '_Shut the fuck up, I have not finished_' as he elaborated, still fuming.

"They used the mind control jutsu to induce a physically aroused state as every one of the team used him as a sex toy. Judging by their actions, they do this after every mission."

A pause.

"WHAT?" everyone shouted once more. Then followed by each separately shouting some form of "What the hell do you mean?" or "What the fuck?" along with choice swears.

Kakashi-Sensei had actually gotten up and started pacing with his back generally turned to them and occasionally grabbing his hair with jerky movements all the while muttering too low for anyone to hear legible words and make a coherent sentence.

Tsunade had punched the table and was practically shredding her sake cup. She had stayed seated, but the pure rage had not left her face, but it was still apparent she was using every ounce of self-control she possessed to not bring the whole house down.

Sakura, unable to obliterate the table, settled for grabbing at her arms. Her nails occasionally drew blood as she unconsciously clawed her arms.

She could totally understand why the clearing in the forest was wrecked and why Sasuke had lost control of himself as she was borderline herself.

Not only were those bastards controlling her best friend, but they were _using_ him for _sex?_ They were actually FORCING him—her ever-innocent, pure Naruto—for SEX? And did Sasuke say GANG RAPE? They didn't even give Naruto _any_ respect? He is used as their _SEX TOY?_

"We have to free him as soon as we can." Sasuke said in a surprisingly calm voice.

That brought the other three back to their senses, kind of. All three resumed their seats around the remains of the table and even though still clearly infuriated, they had calmed themselves enough to move on with the meeting.

"Agreed." Lady Tsunade said with a slight nod. Then she took a deep breath and was once again in command of herself and the meeting. "We will find a way to lure. . ._their_. . .team out with some sort of mission. Then we will somehow isolate Naruto so we can reverse the mind-control jutsu."

All the others nodded Kakashi-Sensei and Sakura rather numbly, though.

"I want to help." Sasuke said in a tone that clearly stated that it wasn't a request.

"Oh, you will. In fact, YOU will be the one to undo the jutsu." Lady Tsunade said.

A slightly surprised silence followed her statement.

Lady Tsunade continued, "According to what I've heard about your fight with Naruto, you making physical contact weakens the jutsu. Naruto clearly reacts to you, so we can hopefully use this to undo the mind control over him. Unless you would rather someone else—"

"NO!" Sasuke quickly said, losing a bit of his composure. Immediately it was back though as he said in a calm but irrefutable tone, "I won't let anyone else be the one to free my dobe."

Kakashi-Sensei seemed to finally calm back down as Sasuke said these words. Lady Tsunade raised an eyebrow at Sasuke's tone and declaration. Sakura had to once again repress a gasp.

There it was again. Sasuke's clear love for Naruto. Only Naruto would—and deserved to—get Sasuke's affectionate side. It both tore her heart because his declaration was another shot at the part of her that was getting over him and because it was so sweet to see Sasuke so determined for another.

"We'll see, Uchiha." Lady Tsunade said in a business-like tone. Then she said, "This will take more than just the effort of Team Seven. I know that you want to handle it on your own, but you guys will need help. I'll also assign the other teams of your year as well as Team Gai to join you."

"Yes, Lady Hokage." Sakura answered while the men merely nodded their understanding.

"Good, now that we have that decided," Lady Tsunade turned to Sakura, "I trust that you will safely escort Uchiha to his temporary lodging?"

* * *

><p><strong>And that was the chapter.<strong>

**Wow! That was the longest chapter yet! I've actually debated with myself a lot about this one. I thought about making it a Sasuke POV and have him constantly shout in his head asking if he was dealing with idiots and have him be all secretly a mess in his head. I also thought of making it a Tsunade POV and make her join Kakashi and Sakura to the clearing because I fudged up in her chapter by declaring she would. I also thought of making it a Kakashi POV, but I quickly dismissed it because I know that I can't write in his POV because I can never figure out what's going on in his head.**

**But then I checked my original outline and decided that going with the original Sakura POV would be best, even though she has so many emotions. I hope it got across how emotional she is, otherwise it's just a bunch of babble, like how much I hate Princess Leah and her "female empowerment" cough fanboy service cough cough.**

**But review and let me know what you think of the story! Otherwise I'll temporarily lose interest this week and focus on other ideas that take a while to articulate.**

**Thanks for the favorites and alerts, too! Reviews are ideal though, hint hint.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I own no one in the Naruto Universe**

**It's my current goal in life to be the biggest thug since I've already achieved my Stud-Muffin status. I don't mean to brag, but I sometimes take cough drops…when I don't have a cough.**

**HAWT DAMN IM A TOTAL BADASS!**

**Onward with the chapter!**

* * *

><p>Sasuke was starting to feel uncomfortable. He'd been sitting motionless in the same tree all morning waiting for Sakura to hurry the hell up; and it didn't help that he couldn't sleep well. The little shack outside Konoha's border that's been set up for his temporary lodging was well hidden, but not in the least bit comfortable.<p>

But Sasuke didn't care, this was a necessary sacrifice to get his dobe back. He would sleep on the forest floor for an entire year if it meant he could have his Naruto back safe and sound.

Now Sasuke was sitting in a tree near a clearing outside Konoha. He made sure that he was well hidden with a view of the clearing.

Sasuke could see Sakura and the other members of the Rookie 9 in the clearing. Sakura was going to tell the others about the plan she, Kakashi, Tsunade and himself had made in order to get Naruto back to them, but they were waiting for the members of Team Gai—minus Gai.

Kakashi and the other Senseis had to stay in Konoha, otherwise the meeting would arise more suspicion. Apparently all the members of his former class and Team Gai had meetings together frequently, but never one so far out of Konoha so they did not want to invite anyone else and call even more attention to themselves. Besides, the teachers would be told in their own time either by Tsunade or others in the plan.

They had to be out of the village on the off chance that somebody might overhear them. And above all, Sasuke could not risk being seen by anyone else.

"C'mon, Big Forehead! Tell us why you called us all the way out here." Ino said in a loud voice. God, did that girl change at all? Sasuke had dreaded that his old classmates would be as immature as before.

Sasuke sent her an unseen annoyed glare, but it faded away as he saw no hint of the old malice her eyes had when the two girls were near each other but rather a normal confused and slightly annoyed look like the others had, save for a few.

"Just wait until the rest come, Ino-Pig." Sakura replied calmly.

Hunh, maybe the insults have turned into nicknames for each other much like his own pet names with Naruto. Maybe his old classmates _have_ matured. Maybe.

At the mental reminder of Naruto, Sasuke sent a silent demand towards Sakura to hurry up with the meeting so they could hurry and rescue his dobe!

Answering the silent demand, Lee, Ten Ten, and Neji's approach was announced by an exuberant call by Lee. He said something about the power of youth allowing the trio to get the motivation to hurry to their youthful friends after their mission.

Sasuke inwardly rolled his eyes. They haven't changed much.

"Alright, they're here, now spill the beans!" Kiba called loudly as he stood up from his position leaning on Akirmaru.

The others in the group turned expectantly towards the pinkette.

Sakura took a look across the group, eyes resting on each of their faces before taking a deep breath.

"You guys are going to have to keep everything you guys here to yourselves, it's all Top Secret as orders by the Hokage." Sakura told the group.

Every person have an immediate nod, though some wore confused expressions on their faces.

"And you can't interrupt!" Sakura warned.

Again, immediate nods followed the order, though more confused looks joined the number and some morphed into lightly annoyed expressions.

"Alright," Sakura took another deep breathe, "we know what happened to Naruto."

Immediately the clearing was filled with a chorus of "WHAT?"s and demands for answers by nearly every person present. They were silenced by a glare by Sakura. It wasn't an Uchiha Glare, but it got the message to shut the fuck up rather well.

Sasuke was impressed.

"I told you not to interrupt." Sakura said lowly. She was then met with indignant glares by many and she returned it as a warning to not interrupt again.

"Naruto is being controlled by a mind-controlling jutsu. The village elders created the jutsu so they could tame the Kyuubi and Naruto under their own terms and sent him to Sai's ANBU Squad to carry out their orders."

When Sakura finished speaking, the group understood that one of them was allowed to ask what they were all thinking.

"How can we stop it?" Kiba asked urgently as the others stared at Sakura expectantly.

"The Hokage has cleared a plan that has to remain a secret. We have discovered an unexpected weakness to the jutsu and will use than to bring Naruto back." Sakura explained.

"What is it?" Ino interrupted, but was not meant with a glare but an understanding glance before Sakura spoke again.

"Sasuke."

At the mention of his name, the group had many reactions. Ino's shoulders shot up as her reaction became slightly fearful but mostly hopeful. Chouji froze, hand still stuffed inside his bag of chips. Shikamaru seemed unfazed as if he understood and probably assumed as much. Hinata's expression turned into a hesitant apprehensiveness as she unintentionally wrapped her arms around herself. Kiba splurted out noises of surprise and started gesturing wildly. Shino, while completely silent, expressed his shock by miss-stepping. Lee outdid Kiba by spinning around in circles splurting out louder noises and incoherent words; none of which involved youth. Ten Ten instinctively grabbed a scroll filled with weapons and started muttering about not trusting the Uchiha. Neji froze, eyes looking everywhere as he organized his thoughts.

Registering everyone's reactions, Sakura began to finally explain Tsunade's plan with everyone listening intently after they calmed down; Sasuke included, even though he already knew the plan.

"All of us and our Senseis are going to be assigned a mission to capture Sasuke to bring him back to the village. After we have been deployed, Sai's ANBU Squad will be called in to go out and assist us. When they arrive, we will tell them that Sasuke is somewhere within the area and we will be told to split up with one or two of the squad members per team to search for him as per Hokage's orders. When we have all separated: the teams will subdue the squad member. Once the squad has been neutralized, then we will take them back to be sentenced and we will undo the mind-control jutsu Naruto is under."

The group was silent during the debriefing with determined expressions on their faces. After Sakura was finished, there was silence as everyone digested what they have been told. Then questions started to form in their minds as shown by their change in expressions. Seeing this, Sakura took the initiative.

"Neji." She said, because he would know which details to focus on rather than waste time with meaningless particulars that could be dealt with later.

"Sasuke knows this?" Neji asked, facing the trees Sasuke was hiding in.

Almost everyone sent startled and confused looks at either Neji, Sakura, or the area of trees. The only ones who remained calm were Sakura, Neji, Hinata, Shikamaru, and Sasuke himself.

He should have known that Neji would have been searching for his chakra signals with his Byakugan ever since his name was mentioned, and so would Hinata. Shikamaru would have assumed anyways without any outside help.

Sakura turned around and gave the general direction a slight nod. Sasuke almost inwardly rolled his eyes. Could she have been any more obvious.

Internally sighing and bracing himself for loud reactions, Sasuke stood up and landed besides Sakura in one bound.

A collective gasp and several instinctive defensive stances were taken before they were silenced and halted by a combination of Sakura's serious expression and the Uchiha Glare.

"I was the one who discovered what Naruto was being subjected to." Sasuke answered Neji's question, turning his attention to the male Hyuuga.

Neji nodded, but was still slightly glaring at him. Along with the majority of everyone else; those who weren't glaring were still eyeing him somewhat warily, though.

"A-And h-how wi-will w-we u-undo th-the j-jutsu N-N-Na-Naruto i-is u-u-under?" Hinata stuttered. Sasuke simply stared at her instead of glare. He knew that she only wished for Naruto's well-being and would not oppose him if he could help. He was slightly surprised—if Uchihas could be surprised—by her stuttering. She seemed to have gotten better, or Sasuke assumed because there was a significant lesser amount of stammers before the meeting when she was casually speaking to others; Sasuke's presense must have initiated the regression.

Sakura was the one who answered, "Sasuke saw Sai administer the jutsu on Naruto with his Sharingan and he and Kakashi-Sensei are working on a reversal."

"Who will be the ones to take down Sai? I mean, he's like, Sai! You know?" Kiba asked, refusing to meet Sasuke's glare.

At the question, Sasuke's dark aura expanded and intensified so those in the area felt shivers that had little to do with the sudden drop in temperature.

Sakura wore a truly enraged expression as she answered, "Team. Seven." Her tone left little room for debate, but there was still a question for some.

"Why Team 7?" Ino asked somewhat hesitantly as she instinctually stepped behind Chouji.

The temperature dropped even more and everyone took a step or nine backwards to distance themselves from a seething Uchiha.

"That. Fucking. Bastard. Needs. To. Pay." Sasuke growled. There was absolutely no question about Sasuke's intentions. The group slightly shivered at every syllable Sasuke spoke as his tone became darker and more threatening with each word spoken.

Ino sent a fearful but determinedly curious—joined by others—to Sakura who had stayed in her place next to Sasuke.

Placing a hand on Sasuke's forearm to remind him to not attack anyone nearby, Sakura answered in an equally low and dangerous tone, "Those bastards used the mind-control jutsu to sexually exploit Naruto."

The group was reacting in almost the same way as when they learnt that Naruto was being controlled, but with more anger. Instead of confusion for what was happening, there was indignant anger at what their friend was being used for.

Sasuke was somewhat content with the group truly understanding why those fucking bastards need to pay. He knew that Leaf Ninja worked best when motivated by emotion and a cause; Naruto had taught him that. But he hated having more people know what happened to his dobe. He knew Naruto would want as little people to know as possible and Sasuke felt that Sakura was betraying his blonde's wishes.

But there was little he could do now. Besides, now these people would properly understand that that fucking bastard was _his_ prey.

Sasuke removed his arm from Sakura's grasp as he calmed himself down.

Understanding that important questions that Sakura could answer were asked, Sakura began to speak once more.

"Each of your teams will be assigned by Lady Tsunade a squad member to subdue. From what Sasuke has told us, the squad is protective of their secret and Naruto so be prepared. We want the squad members back alive so they can be properly brought to justice. We will be 'assigned' the mission after everyone has been given proper instructions by Lady Tsunade, but it _will_ be within the next week. We want to bring Naruto back to us as soon as possible."

A collective nod and some cheering were shared by the group in the clearing.

Sasuke found that he felt mildly better knowing that all of his old peers would be helping him take down those fucking bastards so he could make that fucking bastard Sai pay for what he did to his dobe.

'_I'm coming, Naruto.'_

* * *

><p><strong>And that was the chapter.<strong>

**It's kinda short, I know, but this one was mostly an explanatory one.**

**And it's kinda random, but I've had the old Britney Spears cover of "I can't get no Satisfaction stuck in my head for the past hour. I haven't listened to it in like a month since listening to it when I put my iPod on shuffle for the long car ride back from my gramma's for New Years. But it's there and I;m tempted to do my old dance to it that I made up back when Britney was like THE shiz when I was in elementary school. That dance wasn't so great though, just a bunch of twirling because that was "dancing" at that age. My dance to "Oops I Did It Again" and "Lucky" were sooooooooooo much better haha. But then again, those WERE the most popular songs on the CD.**

**Oh memories. How they make me feel old. I still remember when going on the computer meant playing a CD Rom game. Man, I was the SHIZ at Putt-Putt. That little car was the bomb. And Pajama Sam? Plus '90s TV shows and movies were so superior to this crap now. And poor Disney channel. That was when they played original shows that differed from each other. Now I shun my little sister & friends when they watch and/or talk about it.**

'**90s Disney was also the shit. Just sayin'**

**Anyways, thanks so much for the favorites/alerts! And a super special awesome thanks to those who review! I update on a somewhat regular basis for you 3 the rest are freeloaders who should feel shame for their freeloading ways.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I don't own anyone in the Naruto world.**

**So I'm full of contradictions lol. Like I WANT to write down these stories and all these ideas I have for them because I can clearly see all these things in my head and have certain moments in all written out in my head…I just don't want to spend the time to actually write them down because I have problems articulating in between these moments. Especially beginnings. Middle and ends I got, but beginnings are a bitch to write. Oh, and fight scenes. I hate them.**

**Onward with Chapter 10! Tis a special one.**

* * *

><p>Sai and his ANBU squad had just departed for their newest mission.<p>

When he had been called in to Lady Hokage's office, at first he had been _irritated_. He had been painting a new picture of the seashore for Naruto with his Naruto watching him work rather peacefully.

They had been told that they would have at least a week's worth of rest. Not that he needed the break, but he wanted the time for Naruto to rest and so he could monitor the jutsu in case it was already weakening and Uchiha had nothing to do with it.

But after he had been told the mission, the _irritation_ turned to _contentment_. He might even call it _excitement_.

His squad was called in as backup for hunting down the Uchiha. Four teams had been deployed because Uchiha had been seen in the area. Apparently his old peers had harbored the desire to fulfill Naruto's old desire to bring the traitor back to Konoha.

They were currently failing so his squad was called in to exterminate the traitor to the village.

His team was _determined_ as well as _apprehensive_. They wanted to be the ones to take the traitor out, but were _apprehensive_ about how the mission would affect Naruto.

They were pretty sure that Uchiha was the reason the mind control jutsu weakened, so they did not want the jutsu to weaken.

As a precaution, Sai put Naruto in an extra sedated state so the squad could handle Uchiha without resorting to Naruto having to fight and thus weakening the jutsu.

The sedated state could only be physically deactivated by someone Naruto recognized like a member of the ANBU squad or the elders, or by verbal order by Sai to switch into attack or sentry mode so Uchiha would not be able to see how the jutsu was performed.

Ideally, they would keep Naruto as far away from Uchiha as possible. Seeing as that would be basically impossible as the teams deployed would assume that Naruto would be the one to take Uchiha down. So their plan was for the team to isolate the traitor so they would exterminate Uchiha. They'd let the elders handle the logistics.

Sai glanced over to Naruto who was traveling by his side. Naruto's demeanor was the same as always while on a mission. He moved with fluid movements, like it was all a simple dance to him; one that he has mastered and perfected.

His mask was still on—like every other member of the ANBU squad—but if it was off then Sai would be able to see that Naruto's eyes would have been more distant than usual and somewhat dulled.

Sai did not necessarily want to sedate Naruto as much as he did, but it was a necessary precaution.

Uchiha would not be allowed to take Naruto away.

Sai looked to his other side at Kohaku and gave a slight signal. Kohaku nodded and turned around to face the rest of the squad and gave the signal that meant they were nearing their destination.

As they approached, Sai noticed that he did not hear any signs of battle. The others in the squad noticed this too so they deduced that the deployed teams were not in combat.

The squad neared a clearing and Zima signaled that he saw Konoha ninja in it.

The squad slowed down and arranged themselves so that they formed a natural barrier of sorts around Naruto. The deployed teams were the ones most adamant about wanting to see their blonde and continuously requested that he join their teams for missions.

The squad walked coolly into the clearing, gaining the instant and undivided attention of those within.

Sai recognized the deployed teams. There was Team 10 with Nara as the apparent leader of their personal team; team 8 with Captain Yamato as the temporary leader; team Guy with Guy as leader; and Team 7 with Kakashi leading.

All deployed teams looked somewhat tired. It was obvious to any ninja that they had recently been in battle. The two medic nins were checking their teammates for injury before Sai's ANBU squad arrived.

When the squad halted, the deployed teams moved to make a semi-circle opposite of the ANBU with Sakura and Kakashi in the center.

It was Kakashi, with a fully exposed sharingan, who spoke to explain to the new arrivals what had happened.

"Uchiha is nearby." he said. Sai heard the slightest of shuffling that told him that Kohaku was making sure Naruto would not be affected by hearing HIS name.

"We made contact but he refused to return the village despite our warning that it was his last chance of redemption." Sakura whispered with tears in her eyes. Sai assumed she was feeling _sad_ over her loss of _love_ since Naruto had told him long ago that Sakura _loved_ Sasuke.

"So we engaged in battle after he refused. We almost apprehended him with our combined efforts but he managed to escape through the use of his mangekyou sharingan." Kakashi explained.

Sai nodded, it made sense. Escaping after battle while flaunting his _Uchiha Pride_ had become a habit of the traitor's. But Sai knew that Uchiha would not simply leave after fighting the deployed teams.

Uchiha was probably waiting for Naruto.

Sai decided that they needed to quickly get through the formalities and logistics so his squad could hunt down and exterminate the Uchiha.

"How would you like to proceed?" Sai asked politely. His squad was merely called for backup; they would be taking orders from the leading team—Team 7—and were only allowed to take charge if that plan failed.

"A member of your squad will accompany each of our teams. Then each team will go in a different direction to pursue the target. Once a team locates him, they will send a signal of their location and the others will join them. We will then surround Uchiha and apprehend him before we take him back to Konoha to be sentenced. The members of your squad will help the teams they are assigned to. Understood?" Kakashi asked as he signaled for the other teams to separate.

Sai nodded his understanding of the plan. It might not have been desirable to them to simply apprehend the traitor, but once they brought him to the village, he would be executed.

"Zima, you will be with Team 8. Akimo, you will be with Team 10. Kohaku, you will be assigned to Team Guy." Kakashi ordered, his tone filled with indisputable authority.

"Sai and Naruto, you will be with us." Sakura said with a small smile on her face.

Sai nodded again as he and his squad went to the separate teams. He positioned himself in front of Naruto in case the others wanted to talk to or touch him. In his sedated state, Naruto would not respond to people talking to him unless it was Sai giving him orders, but he would respond violently to touch unless Sai deactivated his current state.

"Just like old times." Sakura said with a larger smile on her face. She looked as if she was going to try to start a conversation so Sai saw the need stop her before she started.

"Indeed. What direction are we going in?" He asked, polite as ever.

Kakashi pointed in the direction Team 7 would go then gave the signal for everyone to depart. Sai was _grateful_, he didn't want Sakura to start any conversations and it was easier to not talk while hunting Uchiha.

Sai gave Naruto a light touch on the arm which was Naruto's signal to follow Sai.

Team Seven started moving further into the surrounding forest. Kakashi led while Sakura followed; Naruto and Sai took the rear.

Sai kept his eyes open and was aware of all of the surroundings. He did not necessarily know where they were going, but he suspected that Uchiha would target them as long as they had Naruto.

He was somewhat _relieved_ that Sakura had decided against starting a conversation. She had an intense look on her face that looked not necessarily totally concentrated on the mission at hand. She seemed somewhat distracted but at the same time focused.

Sai did not understand.

But that didn't matter. Even if his pink haired teammate was not ready for this mission; he was.

Ahead, Kakashi suddenly stopped.

The rest of the team halted as well. Sakura looked at Kakashi while Sai scanned the area for whatever made Kakashi freeze. Naruto stared ahead, oblivious to the world around him unless Sai told him to act.

"Sensei?" Sakura asked as she turned to Kakashi.

Kakashi stared ahead as he reached to his pouch and took out his kunai.

Sai took out his own tantō and searched the trees ahead for a sign of Uchiha. He crouched into a defensive stance as he inwardly reviewed Naruto's new sedated state and how it would pan out in battle.

While in this state, Naruto shouldn't react to seeing or hearing Uchiha; and would automatically switch to attack mode if touched by anyone besides Sai on the off chance that Uchiha and Naruto engage in taijutsu. Sai doubted that would happen as he fully intended on detaining the traitor far before he gets the chance to even consider getting close to his Naruto.

Since there would be more people on the mission than just their ANBU squad, Sai adjusted the 10 meter radius around Naruto. Usually, those who breach the radius would automatically set Naruto to his attack mode if they did not leave within the minute or continued forward; but Sai had set it so Naruto's attack mode would only be automatically set if someone other than their ANBU squad touched him.

Sai was still scanning the area ahead of him when he heard something rustling behind him.

On instinct he turned around with his tantō raised.

Sparks flew and metal gave a shrill clang as tantō met katana.

Sai found himself staring into Uchiha's vivid red eyes as the black tamoe spun wildly in a continuous circular motion with a speed to fast to follow.

Following the advice he was given years before, Sai focused his eyes intently on the Uchiha's chin as he felt more pressure on his arm as the katana pressed harder against his tantō.

Sasuke's mouth thinned as a small expression of emotion Sai could not place. Naruto had been the only one who could identify the traitor's emotions.

The two jumped away from each other.

Sai was still intently keeping his eyes trained on the Uchiha's chin. He expected either Kakashi or Sakura to attack Uchiha after the two separated, but neither came forward.

Sai might have looked to the side to see if the other two were merely strategizing a new plan now that the Uchiha was in the area, but he knew better than to take his eyes off the traitor.

Uchiha lunged at Sai so he leapt to the side, feeling the branch he landed on wobble a little due to the momentum he used.

Sai couldn't relax because as soon as he landed, Kakashi spirited to his side. But instead of relaying the plan he and Sakura had made, he slashed at Sai only to meet his tantō creating more sparks flying off to the sides.

Sai was _confused_, but could not dwell upon it as the Uchiha lunged at him once more.

He pulled away from Kakashi's kunai and leapt up to the branch above him where Sakura was waiting.

He turned to face her, intending on asking her what was going on when she too swung at him with her gloved fists.

Sai tried to dodge but half of his attention was on the Uchiha and how he had charged his katana with his Chidori.

Sakura's fist made contact with Sai's shoulder and he was sent several feet to the side hitting a tree behind him.

Because he had moved slightly to the side, his shoulder—while being hit—did not take the full intended damage. His shoulder and back were merely bruised so he paid it no mind.

He saw Uchiha heading towards him with Chidori running through his katana. Knowing he couldn't defend with his tantō; Sai waited until Uchiha had to jump from the branch across from him so he could leap to the side.

As he leapt from branch to branch, all the while fully aware that Uchiha was not far behind, he saw Sakura approach Naruto.

"Naruto…" Sakura said in a tone Sai assumed was meant to be soothing but merely came across as quiet and weak to him.

When Naruto did not turn towards her, she tried to speak again in the same weak tone.

"Sasuke's here, Naruto…Sasuke Uchiha." She said, emphasizing the traitor's name.

Sai was _thankful_ as well as _happy_ that he had placed Naruto under the sedative state.

Seeing and hearing what Sakura was attempting to do cleared up Sai's _confusion_. He understood that Sakura and Kakashi were working with the Uchiha. While he did not understand why, he understood that they were trying to take Naruto away from him.

Sai turned so he could make his way to his Naruto, but the Uchiha intercepted him while Sakura was talking to Naruto and distracted Sai.

An electric shock coursed through Sai's body as he automatically defended himself against Uchiha's Chidori charged katana. He could feel the electric current almost cause him to drop his weapon, but he fought against his body and threw himself to the side and allowed himself to fall past a few branches before flipping himself in the air so he could land clumsily on the ground due to the current still keeping him from the full use of his body.

Kakashi and Uchiha followed Sai to the ground and each took a side and attacked.

Kakashi ran towards Sai with kunai in hand. Sai ducked and slashed at Kakashi, cutting clean through his stomach.

Instead of being showered with blood, Sai was instantly drenched with water. Kakashi's form turned into a puddle of water, mostly landing on Sai.

Sai understood that the water clone was part of a combination attack and quickly leapt to the tree in front of him and used his chakra so he could land horizontally on it and run up its base before Uchiha could use the water to enhance his electric attacks.

Sai's attention was suddenly drawn towards Naruto and so had Kakashi's and Uchiha's judging by how both turned their heads. They all saw Sakura breach the 10 meter radius and saw Naruto instantly turn towards her.

Sakura's face lit up as she walked forward with more confidence.

Sai saw no need to warn her about Naruto's sedative state as she was currently his enemy.

Kakashi seemed to have had some insight into Naruto's behavior because as Sakura raised her hand to touch Naruto's shoulder, he called out for her to stop and moved towards the both of them.

His warning fell on deaf ears as Sakura slightly cupped her gloved hand so she could hold Naruto's shoulder as she whispered his name with unshed tears brimming in her green eyes that her shining with _hope_.

Sakura's finger brushed against Naruto before she could fully place her hand on his shoulder and immediately Naruto shifted into his attack mode.

Without any warning, Naruto grabbed Sakura's arm and harshly tugged her closer with enough force to dislocate her shoulder.

Sakura's face was contorted with _pain_ but did not have enough time to voice her _pain_ before Naruto used the momentum to create a larger impact when he kicked her sending her more than 20 meters into the tree behind her.

When her back hit the tree, Sakura coughed the blood that resulted from hitting the tree and the kick that sent her there.

Her body barely began to fall from the tree when Naruto appeared in front of her and grabbed her other arm and threw her in the air.

After he threw her, Naruto himself jumped up after her. When she was about to reach the peak and fall to the ground, Naruto grabbed her uninjured arm and a leg so he could flip himself so he could use his own momentum and force to kick her once more with his heel, sending her straight down to the ground.

Her body broke a branch or two as it crashed to the ground.

Sai saw Sakura's unconscious form and noticed that her face was still contorted with _pain_ and had a trickle of blood flowing from her mouth as well as her nose. He also noticed all the scratches the smaller branches had caused or the larger gashes through the torn clothing the larger branches had caused.

Naruto's form could be seen as he seemingly fell with his knees bent, aiming towards Sakura's unconscious form.

Then Naruto twisted his body parallel to the ground within seconds as he swung his leg around so he could intercept Kakashi head on; grabbing hold of the older man's forearms. He pulled Kakashi closer and used the other man as a base as he curled his body so he could roughly push Kakashi back with a solid kick from both legs.

Naruto used his chakra to land on the base of a nearby tree while Kakashi slammed into a tree opposite the blonde, but recovered quicker than Sakura did.

The two then charged at each other, Naruto creating a shadow clone and Kakashi making hand signs for a jutsu.

Sai could not tell what the jutsu was as the Uchiha started to attack him once more.

Uchiha started to make hand signals and Sai barely had time to react when Uchiha blew one of the largest Fireball jutsus he had ever seen up the side of the tree Sai was currently on.

Sai knew he could not jump to the side fast enough nor could he jump upwards due to the direction the giant ball of fire was aimed at, so he had to leap diagonally downwards, barely missing the raging inferno.

He saw Uchiha making his way to intercept Sai as he descended downwards with no perceivable way to change direction.

Behind his mask, Sai had on a fake smile, knowing that the Uchiha would be inwardly _pissed_—or so Naruto told him long ago—when his plan would fail.

Reaching into his bag, Sai took out a scroll and his ink brush and drew an eagle which promptly flew out of the scroll when he unleashed his jutsu.

Sai landed on his eagle and flew upwards, leaving the Uchiha to follow him slowly in comparison by jumping from tree branches.

Sai soared upwards until he rose above the treetops. He had his eagle circle around a little so he could search for a member of his squad and warn them that at least one of the teams was collaborating with the Uchiha.

He saw the clearing they were previously in. When he focused, he could see that there were people in it.

Sai was _angered_ when he saw that the rest of his squad was tied together in the middle of the clearing with the other teams surrounding them.

He wanted to fly over to the clearing so he could quickly untie them so they could exterminate the Uchiha as planned.

All of a sudden, Sai felt what he thought was a bolt of lightning in his injured shoulder.

Turning around with difficulty as he kept twitching slightly due to the shocks of electricity being sent though his system, he saw that the Uchiha had somehow molded his chakra so he could extend his Chidori from the treetop he was currently standing on.

Sai's body was paralyzed and his mind focused entirely on the jabbing pain centralizing from his shoulder extending to the rest of his body.

Without warning, Sai's jutsu failed as his eagle burst into droplets of ink raining down on the green treetops, covering them and the Uchiha with thick black spots.

As Sai started to fall, the Uchiha leapt up.

Paralyzed and unable to do anything, Sai watched as Uchiha kicked where the base if Sai's neck reached his shoulders forcing Sai's limp body into an upright position in front of the Uchiha.

From behind him, Uchiha had produced steel wire that circled around Sai's body.

It tightened painfully, digging through the skin merely protected by cloth or otherwise exposed causing beads of red blood ooze from the stinging wounds.

"This is for Naruto." The Uchiha traitor whispered in what Sai assumed was a harsh tone as he felt the wires tighten more and hands placed on his arms, nails digging into his exposed skin as the tightened wire ripped the cloth underneath the armor.

Sai's body became numb as he felt the Uchiha's Chidori envelope him. He was dimly aware that his body had been turned upside-down and the two were now spiraling down to the ground, spinning in increasing speeds as they neared the ground.

Sai closed his eyes as he mentally braced for impact.

The next thing Sai was aware of was pain.

Physical pain.

He was lying on the ground with pieces of his now destroyed mask around the area where his head had impacted the ground; one piece cutting into his cheek.

He noticed that there was a slight crater from the force of his fall.

From his position, he could see Sakura leaning against a tree with her hands glowing with chakra as she healed herself.

Sai vaguely felt the _desire_ for a medical ninja to heal him or at least remove the _pain_.

Uchiha had also landed, quite lightly in comparison to how Sai crashed down to earth.

Because his body was paralyzed due to residual shocks left from the Chidori, Sai understood that he could not physically fight Uchiha.

But he was in no way giving up.

Sai looked up at the traitor, making eye contact with the sharingan.

Red promised a painful end while black promised a determined challenge.

The two only broke eye contact when they heard what sounded like an explosion.

Simultaneously, the two looked to the side and saw Kakashi's limp body fall from the tree branches with Sakura shouting his name while Naruto landed into a crouch on the lowest tree branch, hand slightly extended to show that he just hit his sensei with a Rasengan.

Uchiha turned back to Sai, who stared back to the glare the other was using.

"You are going to _pay_ for what you did to Naruto." Uchiha said with the same harsh tone as earlier, with his lips curling slightly to expose his teeth while his eyebrows furrowed even more to make the glare the Uchiha was using more intense. Sai assumed the effect would be rather intimidating.

"Traitor." Sai spat, becoming aware that the paralysis was slightly lifting enough for him to speak but not enough to move.

"You broke him almost beyond repair when you betrayed Konoha. You don't deserve his acknowledgement." Sai continued.

Uchiha's sharingan began to spin. A sign that the traitor was _angry_, according to what Naruto had told him long ago.

"I'm not the one who needs to put him under a mind control jutsu to gain his attention." Uchiha sneered.

At this, Sai froze a little as he felt _trepidation_.

He knew. Uchiha knew about the jutsu.

The rest of his squad was bound in the valley while he was paralyzed and essentially beaten. And Uchiha knew about the jutsu. He knew.

Sai then felt _anger_.

Sai looked back up at Uchiha with a true frown on his face.

Sai might have failed, but Uchiha would not win.

He had yet to reveal Konoha's Ultimate Weapon.

"Naruto: ENGAGE."

* * *

><p><strong>ACK! It's a cliffy!<strong>

**See? I SAID it was a special chapter. And I always keep my promises—except when I don't!**

**But here's one promise I will not break: I WILL update by next Saturday, Sunday at the absolute latest. And by Sunday, I mean like around 3ish because I gots me some insomnia so it'll teeechnically be Sunday but it'll still be Saturday in my mind.**

**Anyway, Superbowl this Sunday! Who is excited? Many people! I am on the lighter side of it as I never really cared about sports and am more excited about the commercials because companies pay literally millions of dollars to get like 30 seconds of airtime so these commercials will deeeeefinitely be bitchin.**

**But that doesn't mean I'm completely oblivious about the sports aspect. I'm so rooting for the Giants. I'll bet imaginary cookies that they win! The Superbowl Puppies on Latenight with Jimmy Fallon totally predicted that they would!**

**Thank you for the favorites/alerts! And a thuper duper thanks to those who review! I update for YOU! ~points~. Freeloaders should follow your example.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I don't own anyone in the Naruto Universe.**

**I'm kinda anxious about writing this chapter. I hate writing fighting scenes. Writing about feelings and inner turmoil I got (I think) and it comes easily, 'specially because Imma psych major as well as a self-diagnosed extroverted introvert. But I dunno jack about real fights and adding ninjitsu to all that? In my mind, my little fight scenes are straight and to the point; then I read them over and find that I essentially wrote an elaborate He-Hit-Him-On-the-Head-and-He-Passed-Out so I need to draw it out more because this is Naruto where a fight can last 4 episodes minimum.**

**Plus I'm guessing there will be a lot of expectations for THIS chapter because I'll (crappily) write how Naruto was named the village's Ultimate Weapon (OMG TITLE) and it is revealed just how aware Naru actually is whilst mind controlled . .**

**Oh well, might as well get started with it.**

**Onward with the story!**

* * *

><p>"<em>Naruto: ENGAGE!"<em>

As soon as he heard those two words, Sasuke swirled around so his entire body was facing Naruto.

When those two words spouted from that fucking bastard's mouth, Naruto reacted.

Naruto was still crouching on the branch in the tree across from Sasuke, but his hands flew to his head and clutched it as if he were in pain. His knees seemed to give out so he leaned forward as a result from kneeling now as opposed to his previous crouching form.

Naruto was clutching his head with so much force that his mask snapped in half due to the pressure that was applied to it.

When the mask fell, Sasuke saw something worse than when Naruto's blank eyes that held no recognition when they had encountered each other the week before.

Naruto's face was scrunched in pain.

No sound was issued from Naruto's mouth, even as he bared his teeth in retaliation to whatever was making him clutch his head like that. When Naruto bared his teeth, Sasuke saw that his canines had somehow elongated into fangs; sharp, pointed fangs.

With his Sharingan, Sasuke could also see Naruto's whiskers thicken. No longer were they cute lines on his face that accented Naruto's individuality, but the feral markings of the beast he held within.

Instantly, Sasuke turned around to face the fucking bastard.

He felt his Sharingan swirl in his anger and he indulged in his urge to hurt the bastard in front of him.

Sasuke snarled as he tilted his foot behind him, then he kicked forward with considerate strength and felt momentary satisfaction when he felt his foot come into sharp contact with the bastard's face.

The force of the kick almost sent the bastard flying, but Sasuke wouldn't let his prey escape.

Before the body could leave the little crater the earlier impact had created, Sasuke pierced it with his katana, effectively pinning it back down to the ground.

Red blood stained his blade as the bastard's body slid down from the base of the hilt that had stopped it from leaving the crater back down to ground; where he belonged.

Sasuke knew that he would need his katana if he wanted to fend off Naruto. He needed it last time they fought and now he was going to face a more feral Naruto so he would need to be able to properly defend himself; their battle in that damned Valley had taught him that.

He took his time as he slid his katana out of the bleeding body beneath him. IT had long since lost consciousness, but Sasuke's sadistic side would not leave things at that.

He quickly summoned two kunai and a few throwing stars. With accurate precision, he threw the stars so the bastard's clothes were pinned to the ground.

Sasuke took the kunai in his hand and walked over to the bastard's right side. He stomped hard on the bastard's hand—the hand that DARED touch SASUKE'S Naruto—and mercilessly pushed the kunai through the hand; pinning it to the ground. He repeated the process with the bastard's left hand too.

Sasuke whirled around once more face Naruto.

Naruto was no longer clutching his head in pain nor was he kneeling. Naruto was once again crouching, but not the same as before.

Before, Naruto was crouching as a result of landing on the branch and merely held the position until the fucking bastard told him to 'Engage'. Now, Naruto was crouching on all fours in a more animalistic pose.

Before, the crouch meant that Naruto was resting a little after an attack. Now, the crouch meant he was preparing for one.

Sasuke suddenly realized that a nonexistent breeze he had not noticed had practically turned into a storm.

The leaves in the trees rustled violently until they fell off and flew in area towards Naruto. It was as if there was a little tornado and Naruto was in the eye of the storm!

The leaves that flew towards him would swirl around the crouching blonde heading towards the sky above him.

The wind started to screech around him. It was more high pitched and eerie than regular stormy winds; this wind had been created from the Demon Fox's chakra and filled the surrounding area with its malice.

The wind seemed to have two octaves assaulting Sasuke's ears at the same time: one underlying continuous howl and a higher pitched scream that passed through the trees.

Through it all, Naruto had kept his eyes closed. His face was no longer contorted in pain and had assumed a more dangerous, feral version of his previous emotionless state.

It was as if the swirling masses of chakra seeming out of his body and swirling around him in his personal typhoon was calming the demon inside of him.

During the time Sasuke had taken to pin the fucking bastard to the ground, Naruto's now calm face had grown more savage. His mouth was framing his fangs with thick black lines that had overtaken his lips and his hair was standing on end.

Without any perceivable warning, Naruto opened his eyes.

They were the eyes of the Nine Tailed Fox Demon.

Naruto's eyes were framed with the same thick back lines as his mouth, but made the structure resemble the fox. His previously blue eyes were now a red deeper than blood. And his pupils were now slits.

When Sasuke had seen his eyes during their encounter a week ago when they had fought each other, Naruto's eyes had remained blank and did not recognize Sasuke.

Now Naruto's eyes were focused on him and Sasuke could tell that Naruto now recognized him as an enemy that needed to be eliminated.

As soon as their eyes met, Sasuke felt all of his senses being attacked.

He saw red chakra creating a transparent film around the crouching figure, though no tail like in that damned valley. He saw the branches in the area sway due to the force of the wind. He saw the figure in the branches glaring at him. But he did not see his friend; he saw the Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki. He saw the village's Ultimate Weapon.

He could smell the underlying scents of the forest as it whipped around him because of the wind. He could smell the blood that remained on his katana. Sasuke could smell the fear the surrounded him.

He could hear the wind as it shrieked around him. It pulsated higher pitches in accordance to the chakra emanating from the jinchuuriki. He heard the branches creak around him as the wind forced them to bend to its will. He could hear haggard gasping from himself.

He could taste the chakra in the area. He could taste how bitter it was. It was not sour, it was not blended with any other taste. It was pure bitter. He could also taste the desire to empty his stomach.

He felt the demonic aura. He felt the chakra seeping out of Naruto merge with the wind and sting his skin. He felt how the air around him became so cold that it burned his lungs whenever he took a breath. He felt the jinchuuriki's intention to kill him.

Sasuke forced himself to remain calm as his senses were attacked. He forced himself to think of possible ways to not only defend himself but to also attack.

He forced himself to find a way to get his love back.

Sasuke no longer had the curse seal. He briefly wondered if he would be able to survive fighting Naruto because the last time Sasuke had fought him while he was under the Kyuubi's influence, he had depended on it heavily.

No. Sasuke internally shook his head. Orochimaru had only deluded Sasuke into believing that he was more powerful with the seal. All it did was centralize Sasuke's chakra and power. He had spent much time perfecting his techniques and power so he was more powerful now that he ever was with it.

He looked back at Naruto with a new confidence, but apparently that was not the right thing to do to the current Naruto.

When Sasuke gave Naruto the confident look, Naruto growled at him.

The growl was not like anything he had ever heard from Naruto before. It came from the back of his throat, telling Sasuke that he wanted to kill him. It was an animal's growl.

After Naruto unleashed the growl, a tail made of transparent, bubbling, red chakra started to form.

It was just like what had happened in that damned valley, except much different.

This time Sasuke was bringing Naruto back.

The tail had fully formed and was swishing lazily from side to side behind Naruto. Naruto was waiting for Sasuke to attack.

Well, if Naruto was waiting for an attack then Sasuke would attack, but not in the way Naruto would expect.

Sasuke felt his Sharingan spin as he cast a genjutsu on Naruto.

He poured a lot of chakra into the genjutsu, he wanted—needed—Naruto to calm down long enough so he could reverse the mind control jutsu over Naruto. He, Kakashi, and Tsunade had decided to reverse the order of the jutsu completely. They were almost positive that it would work; and if not, they would rely on Plan B: force the fucking bastard or the fucking _elders_ to reverse it.

Calming Naruto down to the point where they could safely reverse the jutsu was going to be a problem, though. Kakashi had suggested that if Naruto went into attack mode to use the jutsu for his calmed state of mind before reversing it. Sasuke was against the idea.

He would not be put on the same level as the bastard.

So Sasuke decided to place Naruto under a genjutsu long enough for Sasuke to approach him to undue to jutsu.

He was not expecting to have to face _this_ Naruto, so he poured more chakra into the genjutsu than necessary; unsure of how long it could hold the jinchuuriki.

His genjutsu would make Naruto believe that he wasn't there anymore. He replaced himself with the bastard because—as much as he _abhorred_ it—the bastard was the one who was controlling Naruto and the bastard had set the jutsu so that Naruto would not attack him or the rest of the fucking ANBU squad.

He also made the rest of that fucking ANBU squad be incorporated in the genjutsu. He had the bastard tell Naruto that it was a training session and that it was over.

While Naruto would be distracted by the genjutsu bastard, Sasuke would hurry over to Naruto and undo the mind control jutsu.

Sasuke had barely started to move forward—he had made it up the tree closest to him with the intention of making his way to Naruto's branch—when the growling renewed itself.

Naruto's demonic eyes refocused on Sasuke.

He broke the genjutsu!

Sasuke did not have time for anything other than that thought because all of a sudden, he was hit by what felt like a massive cannon of pure chakra.

His body was pushed violently all the way through the trunk of the tree he had landed on and landed on a branch of another tree he had slammed into.

His stomach had taken the majority of the chakra cannon blast and he could still feel the remaining effects of having been in contact with the evil chakra.

It burned him and stung him. Every sting seemed to last for hours within the second. The burning was relentless and only served to accentuate the stinging. It hurt.

Sasuke pushed himself up and forced himself to ignore the continuous pain. His body would have to wait; it was not as important as saving Naruto.

Through the now open space created by Naruto's attack making the tree Sasuke blasted through, Sasuke could see Naruto still crouching on the branch; he hadn't moved.

Sasuke recognized that genjutsu would not work, and he was running out of chakra. He decided to go for taijutsu and use his remaining chakra for little Chidori blasts, like the one he had used to momentarily stun Naruto during their fight a week ago.

Sasuke unsheathed his katana. He didn't want to hurt Naruto, but the burning stinging in his stomach proved that touching the chakra that surrounded Naruto was too dangerous.

Sasuke moved forward with tremendous speed that would rival that of Lee so many years ago when he had fought Gaara during the Chuunin exams.

Suddenly, Naruto pounced.

With his Sharingan, he could barely—barely—follow Naruto's movements. If he didn't have his Sharingan, then he was sure that he would not have been able to see Naruto at all.

A blur of red appeared in front of him and materialized as Naruto's clawed hands. His now sharpened nails had cut through the traditional ANBU gloves he wore.

Even though Sasuke could see it coming, his body could not react in time.

He managed to slightly turn his head before he felt the claw make contact with his left bicep.

He was thrown to another tree and even though he had twisted his body so that he would land on the tree horizontally with his chakra, his legs still felt as if he had been slammed into this one too.

He ignored the pain in his legs and the new burning stinging in his left arm and jumped off the tree towards Naruto.

He swung at Naruto with his katana.

Naruto defended himself with his arm brace, but Sasuke had used the momentum of his jump to add to his strength as well as coating his blade with a small film of electricity so with effort, it sliced through the brace.

He saw the blade make contact with Naruto's skin as he completed his swing and returned his katana to a defensive position.

The cut instantly healed itself with such speed that there was no time for blood to pour out.

Naruto then used his other arm to claw at his sword.

Sasuke was inwardly surprised that Naruto's nails had created the same sparks as a kunai would when they slid against his katana, adding a metallic screech to the sounds of the shrieking wind.

Sasuke spared his blade a fleeting glance. His sharingan allowed him to see every detail within the second so his attention was quickly back on the red blur that was Naruto.

He saw that Naruto's clawed nails had left a scratch on his katana.

The red blur moved again. It was jumping to another tree.

When it landed, Sasuke saw Naruto's demonic eyes flare at him.

Suddenly, Sasuke saw Naruto swing at him once more with his arm and saw that the film of red chakra surrounding his arm had lengthened into a large, bubbling extended arm of vile chakra.

He jumped over the chakra arm to dodge it and made his way closer to Naruto.

But before he could land on the same branch as Naruto, his chakra tail swung and slammed him to the ground.

It was hard to get up. Sasuke was tired, sore, stinging and hurt, but he had to get up. He had to keep fighting. He had to get Naruto back.

Naruto landed in front of him. They were a good 12 meters away from each other, but Sasuke could _feel_ the chakra radiating from the jinchuuriki. It was the chakra rather than the wind that stung him, and made his injuries throb even worse with the close proximity.

Their eyes locked. Sasuke took the chance to try something he hadn't considered yet.

He decided to contact Kyuubi directly within Naruto's mind.

Sharingan spinning, Sasuke focused on Naruto's own red eyes and proceeded to dive into his mind.

* * *

><p>Sasuke was not aware of closing his eyes, like the last time he had used the Sharingan to contact the Kyuubi, but when he opened them he was inside the chambers of Naruto's mind.<p>

The first thing he noticed was how quiet it was. He had grown used to attempting to hear over the shrieking of the wind outside so the sudden change was alarming.

He also noticed how dark it was. The area his physical body was in may have been shrouded in shadows, but sunlight found its way through the leaves. Where he was now mentally was almost completely pitch black if not for the dim yellow-tinged lights he could not place.

There was also about 7 or so inches of water surrounding his ankles. The water was cold, but not freezing. It was easy to ignore but impossible to forget, especially as he could feel ripples forming from his body with his pulse.

"Ku…ma…wha…..s…go….n?"

_NARUTO!_

Sasuke could barely hear the words echoing in the dark chambers, but there was no mistaking whose voice it was.

Naruto!

Sasuke ran forward with a burst of speed. He _needed_ to confirm what he was hoping was the truth.

Oh Kami, it HAD to be the truth! It HAD to really be Naruto he heard!

He ran and ran, adrenaline pumping through his veins. Blood thundered in his ears so he was oblivious to how much noise he was making as he splashed his way towards the direction he knew Kyuubi's cage was.

"Dammit, Kurama! Stop ignoring me and tell me what the fuck is going on!"

Sasuke nearly tripped when he heard his love's voice once more. At the moment, he was in pure bliss. He almost forgot all the pain he was currently in, all the pain he had accumulated after his first encounter with Naruto. He was lost in Naruto's voice. It sounded exactly as he remembered it, but even more so since he was listening to the real thing, of that he had no doubt.

He stumbled a bit as he picked up his pace so he could get to the Kyuubi's cage faster and finally—_finally_—see his Naruto.

He thundered through the chambers for a few precious minutes before he skid to a complete stop.

He finally saw him. He could finally see him!

"Naruto." He whispered in a complete daze. A part of him could not believe what he was seeing. Yet there the dobe was.

Naruto was exactly the same as Sasuke's memory from a few years ago after the two had last seen each other before Sasuke decided to return.

He was even wearing his orange jumpsuit!

The part of Sasuke's mind that could not believe that it was really Naruto in front of him pointed out that Naruto seemed no older than 16 when Sasuke's physical body had been fighting an 18 year old Naruto.

But that part of his mind was overwhelmingly overshadowed by Sasuke's sheer relief and bliss.

"Naruto." He whispered once again, more to confirm it to himself.

The dobe had not seemed to notice another presence observing him; he was too busy glaring at the Kyuubi's cage.

"KURAMA! TELL ME WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON! WHY DID YOU CLOSE THE CAGE?" Naruto shouted to the cage in front of him, completely oblivious to the Uchiha walking closer behind him.

"Naruto." Sasuke said, a little louder this time.

"AND WHY DID THE HEADACHES START AGAIN? I THOUGHT THOSE WERE OVER WITH! DAMMIT, I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME!" Naruto shouted in ever increasing volumes.

"Naruto!" Sasuke said in a dobe-worthy volume.

"Wha—" Naruto immediately turned around to see what in the world could have been calling his name. Confusion and curiosity was evident within those ever reflective eyes of his.

His beautiful, azure, captivating, endless, shining eyes. His AWARE eyes.

Sasuke could no longer restrain himself. Screw Uchiha prestige and limitations.

Sasuke pulled the confused blonde into a crushing hug, pulling the other as close as physically possible while still fully clothed.

He could have been lifting the dobe off the ground for all he was aware of. He wasn't thinking; his mind was filled with unrivaled happiness.

He was finally holding his love. He had finally _found_ his love. He could finally bring his love back.

"Naruto, I finally found you." Sasuke whispered as he buried his face in the other's impossibly blond and soft hair.

"Sa-Sasuke?" Naruto whispered back, utter confusion laced in every syllable.

Naruto tried to push away from the hug after a few moments, probably because he realized just exactly who was holding him, but Sasuke only held on all the more tighter.

"No." Sasuke said in an absolute tone.

"Sasuke, what the hell?" Naruto shouted as he renewed his struggles, "What are you doing?"

Sasuke's response was to squeeze his dobe even tighter.

Naruto yelped with the sudden and unexpected slight pain.

As soon as the sound escaped the blonde's lips, two things happened: Sasuke lessened his grip a little and a growl could be heard from Kyuubi's cage.

At the growl, Naruto froze a little. Sasuke's grip slackened a little in surprise to both the growl and reaction, which Naruto used to free himself.

"KURAMA!" He shouted in a somewhat accusing tone as he neared the cage.

Suddenly, the Kyuubi's cage opened and a claw reached out and snatched Naruto and withdrew back into the shadows of the cage before Sasuke could react.

"NARUTO!" Sasuke shouted as he ran to the cage. He just got his love back! He would NOT lose him again!

"Sasuke? Is it really you?" Naruto's voice asked from within the shadows.

His voice was relatively calm albeit a little stressed and curious. Sasuke could also detect a hint of frustration underlying in Naruto's voice.

Kami, how much he had missed his voice.

"Yes it's me! Where are you? Is the demon hurting you?" Sasuke replied frantically. How the hell was Naruto staying calm?

Sasuke could hear the demon growl again. Sasuke pressed himself against the bars in a renewed struggle to save his love from the Kyuubi.

"Kurama isn't a demon!" Naruto's heated voice shouted from within the shadows, "Well, technically he is, but that doesn't give you the right to judge him!" His voice had trailed a little in the middle but ended with as much ferocity as when he defended the Kyuubi.

"Who the hell is 'Kurama'? Dammit, Naruto! The Kyuubi just snatched you into the cage and you are fucking _defending_ someone?" Sasuke shouted, desperately searching the shadows for his stolen love.

"Kurama is Kyuubi's name you damn teme!" Naruto's disembodied voice shouted back.

"What?" Sasuke shouted in response. He didn't have time to argue with Naruto! Naruto was in the fucking cage with the demon fox!

Sasuke could hear a sigh, then, "Hey, put me down you big fuzzball."

Fuzzball? Why the hell was Naruto speaking so calmly to the Kyuubi?

Sasuke could hear a growl in response, but a calmer one than the one that had just been threatening him.

"If you aren't going to put me down, then tell me what the fuck is going on!" Naruto's voice demanded.

After a few moments, Sasuke heard Naruto speak once again.

"Damn fox. Are you really THAT determined to not tell me what's going on?"

Silence followed. Sasuke was practically trying to force his entire body through the bars and stumbled when they suddenly opened.

Naruto came walking towards him with a slight frown of frustration on his face.

Sasuke made to embrace him once more when Naruto sidestepped him and turned around to face the Uchiha with his arms crossed to make an "X" in front of him as if warding off the Uchiha.

"Hold it, Sasuke! Tell me what the hell is going on! Why are you here? What is going on out there? And why the HELL are you so touchy feely?" Naruto shouted, taking his frustration out on Sasuke.

Sasuke was caught off guard by the questions, "You don't know?" he asked lamely.

Naruto grave a huff of frustration and started to pace, creating little plashes in the water with every step.

"NO, I DON'T know, teme! I have no fucking idea! Last thing I remember of the world out there is the village elders telling me that they were going to put me into a trance so I can learn to 'control' Kurama here! But we've been tight and everything for ages now yet I can't wake up! And now I have this mother of a headache and Kurama has cut himself off from me and he WON'T TELL ME WHY," Naruto shouted the last part towards the silent cage, "even though I had THOUGHT that the headaches had stopped! But the damn fox won't tell me anything and NOW I have YOU randomly popping up in my head freaking hugging me like you didn't try to kill me all those times! So now, teme, TELL ME WHAT IS GOING ON!"

Naruto ended his little speech now facing Sasuke and panting a little with a determined and extremely frustrated expression on his face that told Sasuke that Naruto would not settle for anything but the truth.

Sasuke sighed and sat down, despite the cold water, and motioned for Naruto to come closer and do the same.

He wanted Naruto to be further away from the Kyuubi despite Naruto telling them that the two were now "tight" with each other. He also wanted Naruto to calm down a little and knew he was prone to over-exaggerating his reactions while he was standing. Hell, he had problems even while sitting, but he was harder to control while standing.

With an indignant huff and an adorable pout, in Sasuke's biased opinion, Naruto obliged the silent demand.

When Naruto had sat down in the cold water across from Sasuke, Sasuke had made him promise that he wouldn't interrupt while Sasuke explained.

"Whatever, teme, just tell me!" Naruto said in a tone that clearly told Sasuke how much Naruto needed to understand.

"You are currently under a mind control jutsu and have been for the past two years." Sasuke started.

"WHAT?" Naruto shouted. He almost fell backwards with the shock he had just received.

Sasuke gave him his old "shut up, I'm not done talking" glare and continued.

"The elders created it to subdue you and the Kyuubi—"

"Kurama." Naruto cut in.

His interruption was met by two different growls. One from Sasuke for interrupting again and one from inside the cage which meaning only Naruto could decipher.

"Sorry, 'rama. Didn't know you were such a sentimental bitch." Naruto said to the general direction of the cage.

Another growl was the reply.

"Well fuck you! You haven't been telling me shit so in my book that makes you a bitch!" Naruto declared as he once again faced Sasuke and gave him his undivided attention.

"Kyuubi then." Naruto then confirmed which name Kyuubi wanted to be called by the Uchiha.

Sasuke gave a warning nod to Naruto, silently conveying the message to not interrupt again which Naruto immediately understood.

"The elders discovered how to control your mind and make you fight for their needs. They put you under the command of that bastard replacement of mine who makes you go on the reserve missions. You've been under his control for the past two years."

"Wh-what does Sai make me do?" Naruto asked in a small voice.

Sasuke knew that Naruto was talking about which missions. He also knew that Naruto had no desire to become an ANBU member because of the missions they were assigned from a conversation the two had years ago.

Sasuke reasoned that they would be considered the strongest of ninja if they were ANBU Black Ops. Naruto countered that they would be nameless masks so they themselves would not get the recognition, and that he was going to be Hokage someday so he would already be considered the strongest. Sasuke then argued that they would have the chance to do good as ANBU, but Naruto argued back that they would have to kill others in order to achieve their goal.

Naruto had absolutely refused to kill others and had always been adamant about it.

Sasuke knew that confirming that Naruto had indeed killed people would be a lot for the blonde to take in. He didn't want to tell him anything more than necessary, and he _definitely_ would not tell Naruto how that fucking bastard had taken advantage of him.

Not yet. Not when he was still taking everything in.

"You are forced to go on the special reserve missions with that bastard replacement's ANBU Squad." Sasuke told the other in a low tone.

Naruto's horrified expression told Sasuke that he understood.

"Oh Kami…" he whispered in an undertone.

Sasuke waited until Naruto calmed down a little.

"And….and why are you here?" Naruto asked quietly with his head in his hands. His eyes were hidden from Sasuke but the desperate need for more information was still there.

"I'm coming back to Konoha." Sasuke said.

Naruto gasped and his head immediately shot up to look at Sasuke with hope and confusion in his eyes.

"Really?" he choked out with unshed tears in his eyes.

"Hn." Sasuke nodded his conferment, "I saw you a week ago and was going to tell you, but you didn't recognize me and attacked."

Naruto's hopeful expression morphed into confusion and the same horror of understanding that what Sasuke said was true.

Sasuke felt the urge to comfort his blonde, but decided against it as if would only confuse him even more.

"You don't recognize anybody when you're being controlled. You attack anybody who touches you or comes within 10 meters of you. You also attack on command." Sasuke finished with a sneer aimed at the bastard.

Naruto gasped at the new information and looked up at Sasuke with a silent plea for more information.

"You were deployed with the bastard replacement's squad in order to apprehend me, but it's really a trap to get you back to us. While I was fighting that bastard, you took out Sakura and Kakashi."

"I—I what?" Naruto moaned as he placed his head back in his hands. The terror of what he did was evident in his voice, as was the trembling in it.

Sasuke's resolve to not confuse his love by comforting him was dwindling fast; before he could do anything, though, a tail whipped out of the opened cage.

Sasuke expected Kyuubi to grab his love and pull him back into the cage like before and made to grab Naruto before that could happen.

The tail wrapped around Naruto, but instead of pulling him back into the cage, it enveloped Naruto into a warm, comforting embrace of sorts. Kyuubi's tail was embracing Naruto's torso while allowing Naruto's head to pop out of the fluffy hug. Naruto's expression was troubled by all the information and comforted by the hug he was in.

Sasuke knew that Naruto needed to hear all the information quickly so he continued.

"Currently, you and I are in battle. I know the way to reverse the mind control jutsu you are under, but I need to physically break it. But that's proving to be a problem because you are using Kyuubi's chakra." He said in an even tone.

Naruto's eyes shot open with shock.

"Kurama, is that true?" he asked, turning his head to face the opened cage behind him.

Sasuke heard a growl but couldn't understand it. Apparently Naruto did, though.

"WHAT? So THAT'S the reason for the headaches? Is that why you shut yourself in the cage?" Naruto asked, his voice cracking a little in his momentary hysteria.

The Kyuubi growled once more as conferment.

"Calm down, dobe." Sasuke said in a firm tone.

As he predicted and hoped, Naruto's head snapped around to face him.

"Don't call me that, teme!" Naruto shouted. Kyuubi's tail tightened around Naruto, but Sasuke paid it no mind. Naruto's voice had stopped trembling and had become clear, showing that Naruto had indeed calmed down a little.

Sasuke could feel his chakra draining and knew that despite his wishes, he would have to leave Naruto's mind soon.

"Listen, right now I'm trying to undo the jutsu, but the chakra cloak surrounding you won't allow me to without severely burning myself. Is there any way you or Kyuubi can get rid of the cloak?" Sasuke asked with a hint of urgency in his voice.

Naruto looked downcast for a moment before he turned to Kyuubi who was still shrouded in shadows.

"Kurama?" Naruto asked.

Silence followed; Naruto looked downwards sadly and Sasuke inwardly cursed. His chakra was draining so if he didn't get an answer soon he was not sure how he could undo the jutsu.

"**Uchiha**," Kyuubi's disembodied, deep and raspy voice growled. Naruto jumped a little at Kyuubi speaking to Sasuke and Sasuke inwardly tensed, though outwardly he merely directed his gaze to the shadows.

"**I'll be able to cut off my chakra for an undetermined amount of time, but I am unable to reverse the jutsu. Naruto's body will still be in his 'attack mode' as they call it**."

"Why can't you undo the jutsu?" Sasuke demanded. He had been under the impression that Kyuubi could undo the jutsu if he wanted to but allowed it because he was able to kill more people because of it.

"**Because it does not physically harm Naruto**." Kyuubi replied harshly.

Sasuke sighed. He had been subconsciously hoping that Kyuubi could undo the jutsu, but understood that he couldn't.

He looked at Naruto, who was still facing the shadows. He memorized every detail of his Naruto, making his resolve to save him, so bring him back to Sasuke.

"Dobe," Naruto's head whipped around to glare at Sasuke, "I'm going back now. But I promise that I will bring you back."

"You better, teme." Naruto said with a smile.

* * *

><p>When Sasuke opened his eyes, he saw Naruto clutching his head again.<p>

The chakra cloak was dissipating. The screaming wind was dying down and Sasuke's injuries—still stinging—hurt less now that the burning chakra was leaving.

"Naruto…" Sasuke whispered, maybe the Kyuubi _did_ undo the jutsu.

Naruto's eyes suddenly opened; they were the same blank orbs as the first time they had when they had first fought.

Sasuke decided to take the initiative and take the offense so he could undo the mind control jutsu.

Sasuke lunged forward, aiming to hold Naruto by the shoulder so he could pin him to the ground so he could reverse the jutsu.

But when he started forward, Naruto snapped his head up to face Sasuke with that blank expression and started to defend.

When Sasuke reached his arm forwards, Naruto grabbed it and swung his leg and kicked Sasuke's side.

Sasuke wrapped his hands around the arm Naruto grabbed him with and used the momentum from Naruto's bruising kick to swing his body around to wrap his legs around Naruto's torso so he could pin Naruto to the ground so his hands would be free for the necessary hand signals.

When Sasuke's legs touched Naruto's torso, Naruto's eyes widened a little before returning to their normal dead expression.

Immediately afterwards, before Sasuke's legs could wrap around him, Naruto twisted his body and pulled Sasuke along with it so Sasuke's body slammed into a tree they were next to.

Sasuke groaned as the impact aggravated his wounds.

Naruto appeared in front of him and swung, aiming for his head.

Sasuke grabbed Naruto's hand and sent a shock of Chidori through his system.

He noticed how Naruto's eyes once again widened a little before they shut in a shocked pain.

Sasuke pulled Naruto forwards and turned him around so Sasuke was pinning Naruto between himself and the tree.

He felt Naruto gasp a little. Maybe it was like before.

He lessened his grip on Naruto so he could wrap his arms around him like before.

As soon as Sasuke stopped pressing him against the tree, Naruto pressed his upper body against him.

Sasuke took it as a sign that Naruto was becoming aware and started to wrap his arms around his love.

Before Sasuke could, Naruto's legs shot up and pushed against the tree.

Sasuke was pushed to the ground but Naruto flipped over him and landed by his head.

Sasuke rolled over to the side and swung his feet under Naruto and tripped him.

When Naruto hit the ground, Sasuke crawled over him, sitting on his torso and extending his calves behind him to pin his forearms and pinned Naruto's shoulders with his hands.

Naruto openly gasped, his eyes widening and gaining the sparkle only the real Naruto could have in his eyes.

"Naruto." Sasuke whispered.

All the pure bliss he felt earlier when he saw the real Naruto earlier came rushing back when he looked into those eyes.

Sasuke leaned down and gave Naruto a kiss.

He felt Naruto stiffen underneath him, but he didn't care. He was kissing Naruto. He was finally kissing his love.

He pulled away and placed a couple more small pecks on the lips, whispering Naruto's name after each peck.

"Sasuke?"

Sasuke's eyes widened; that was _his_ voice. That was NARUTO's voice.

"Naruto." Sasuke said, his voice with evident relief in it.

"I love you." Sasuke told his dobe.

Then he made the necessary hand seals and placed his hand to Naruto's forehead.

Naruto's eyes widened when Sasuke's forehead, his face contorted in pain as he issued a silent scream.

Sasuke climbed off of Naruto and pulled Naruto close to him, trying to restrain his movements because Naruto had started to writhe in pain.

Naruto stopped writhing after a little while and started to breathe heavily, as if he could not intake any oxygen and desperately needed to.

When Naruto's breathing started to even out, Sasuke placed his hands on Naruto's shoulders and pulled him away from his chest so Sasuke could look into his eyes.

"Naruto?" Sasuke asked, needing to know if he had succeeded in reversing the jutsu.

Naruto was still breathing heavily. He then looked up to meet Sasuke's eyes.

They were _his_ eyes. They were Naruto's fully aware, emotional, expressive, endless, azure, beautiful eyes.

"Sasuke." He weakly whispered.

It was him. It was really Naruto. This was not the blank Naruto he had met in the last week. Not the ANBU Black Op that had fought Sakura and Kakashi. Not the jinchuuriki who had inflicted the wounds on him. Naruto. This was Naruto.

Then Naruto collapsed in his arms. His breath was finally even, he looked exhausted but peaceful; as if he was finally sleeping after not being able to in a long while.

"Naruto? NARUTO!" Sasuke yelled desperately.

"Calm down," Sakura's voice called from a couple of trees away.

Sasuke pulled Naruto's limp body closer to his body as if to protect it. He turned his head to look in the direction of Sakura's voice.

She was sitting by that fucking bastard's unconscious body, Kakashi was with her and she was giving him medical aid.

"It worked, right?" Kakashi asked, turning to face Sasuke.

"I think so, it was _him_, but—" Sasuke gestured his head towards the limp body he was clutching.

"Then he is probably just recovering." Kakashi reasoned with a calming tone.

"Bring him over here." Sakura ordered.

Sasuke nodded and picked Naruto up, carrying him over to the others bridal style.

While he walked, he pulled Naruto close to him, in pure euphoria that he had saved Naruto.

Sasuke buried his face in Naruto's hair, breathing in his scent.

"I brought you back, love. I brought you back." Sasuke said as he gave Naruto's forehead a kiss.

* * *

><p><strong>And that was the chapter!<strong>

**Wow that was hard to write. I really wanted to update before Saturday, but by the end of the Friday night, even though I had started on Wednesday, I had only reached when Sasuke went into Naruto's mind.**

**This chapter was the hardest to write so far, and I spent the most time preparing/prepping/writing on this one. In order to prepare, I watched the episodes when Naruto went into the second stage of transformations (episodes 40/41). And while writing, I was listening to rock about monsters like Skillet's Monster, Three Days Grace's Animal, Linkin Park's Crawling. You know, the good shit.**

**That is until last night. I was watching scary movies with some friends and I was all "this isn't scary." And when I got back to my room to write I was inwardly comparing the movie I was watching with the last movie that gave me nightmares (Paranormal Activity—no one told me that shit isn't real when I was watching it) which turned out to be a REALLY bad idea. My head was suddenly full of all that crazy shit that poltergeist did in the movie and freaked myself out. Plus it was all dark and I couldn't see anything past my laptop light with my roommate intermediately shifting/making noises and freaking me out more. So to calm myself down I had to listen to Disney.**

**Anyway, hopefully the chapter was good.**

**Thanks so much to those who alert/favorite and thank you thank you Thank You to those who review. You guys are my favorite people and those who freeload should look up to you and your sheer awesomeness.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I don't own anyone in the Naruto universe.**

**Soooooo I gave up caffeine for Lent. I was sorta conned into it by my roommie and decided to prove to myself that I am strong enough to give it up….but it's been REALLY hard because I have a serious addiction to mah caffeine! The first day I had to burrow myself in my bed to block out lights/sounds; but I had obligations (Ash Wednesday service) so I looked like a creeper with my sunglasses at night b/c the street lights and building lights hurt my withdrawal-induced self.**

**Onward with the chapter!**

* * *

><p>*<em>Thump<em>* *_Sigh_* *_Swish_* *_Thunk_* *_Crack_* *_Thump_* *_Grunt_* *_Swish_* *_Swish_* *_Thump_* Sasuke could no longer hear the inaudible sounds of his own travels back to Konoha. Instead of his own, he heard the comparatively loud sounds of his former teammates and classmates.

Normally, he would have found the sounds annoying and would simply leave so he could find his solace, but this was different.

This time he had his Naruto in his arms.

This Sasuke was adamant about. Kakashi offered to carry the blonde on his back, apparently having done so before, after Sakura had done preliminary first aid; but Sasuke would not allow anyone other than himself to hold his precious person.

He and the rest of the old Team Seven led the other teams on the way back to the village. The Sensies or a member of each team carried—soldier style—of the bastard's unconscious ANBU squad; Kakashi ended up with the bastard.

Sakura and Ino had each given them first aid—after helping their teammates first—so that they would live to be properly punished.

Even though he had been assured that Naruto was not physically injured, Sasuke was not taking any chances. He needed to get his love to the hospital so he could be properly checked over by Tsunade.

Sasuke wanted to go ahead of the rest of the group. He wanted to go faster than the slow pace they were traveling in due to the extra weight some people carried. He wanted to know for sure that Naruto would be alright and would wake up soon.

The only thing that kept him traveling at the same speed as everyone else with their loud noises was Naruto.

It was always Naruto.

Sasuke knew that the only way he could enter the village with Naruto in his arms would be with the large group vouching for him; otherwise they would try to take Naruto away from him. Try.

He was also moving in a slightly slower pace than normal because he did not want to move Naruto around much in his arms. He was trying to make sure that his usuratonkachi was as comfortable as possible.

He had arranged Naruto in his arms so he was holding him bridal style with Naruto's head resting lightly on his shoulder. Sasuke had arranged it like this so Naruto would be as comfortable as possible and also so he could reassure himself that Naruto was fine for the time being because he could feel Naruto's breath on his neck.

Sasuke didn't care if their position was more intimate than what others suspected. He knew that when Team Seven came into the clearing to meet everyone else some people had started to whisper to each other when they had seen Sasuke cradling Naruto all the while, refusing to let go or put the blonde down.

An Uchiha Glare quickly shut them up, though.

It did not, however, keep the other people from gathering around him and asking redundant questions like if it was really Naruto in his arms or if Naruto was alright. He gave them all stiff nods to the questions concerning Naruto's condition and allowed the people to happily stare at the man in his arms, but he did not allow anyone to touch Naruto or allow anyone to question his holding Naruto on the journey back to Konoha.

Sasuke turned his face downwards so he could visually reassure himself that Naruto was alright; that nothing had changed. He didn't want anything to happen to his blonde that would either harm him or somehow redo the mind control jutsu. His paranoia made little sense, but he knew that the only way to appease his paranoia was to physically look.

As soon as he looked downward, his expression relaxed. Sasuke had Naruto safe in his arms. Naruto's face was serene; more peaceful then he had ever seen it. It was by far a more beautiful and reassuring sight then the blank expression he had been subject to while Naruto was being controlled.

When Sasuke faced forwards, he saw that they were rather close to Konoha.

He unconsciously tightened his grip on Naruto's shoulder, curling his arms so anyone in front of him would only be able to see Naruto's back.

Sasuke was not looking forward to meeting other Konoha ninjas. He was still technically a missing-nin and there was a chance that he would be attacked. Normally, he would not have minded since it was to be expected, but this time was different.

This time he had Naruto in his arms.

He was not entirely sure how he would defend Naruto while said love was in his arms. Of course, he could easily do so, but only if he were to rearrange Naruto to his shoulder for full use of his arms. He would even be perfectly able to defend or leave with only his legs.

But defending with his legs would still jostle Naruto—which he was wary to do—and leaving was out of the question. Naruto needed Tsunade to run a full diagnosis to make absolutely sure that there was no relapse of the mind control jutsu; that Naruto was merely recuperating.

Sasuke briefly wondered whether or not the people around him were also concerned with what might happen when the group would arrive it the gates of Konoha with Sasuke near the lead with several unconscious ANBU members in tow.

So far, no one had mentioned the issue aloud so that either meant there was nothing to be concerned about or that he should be very apprehensive.

Sasuke chose the latter and mentally prepared himself for defense.

The group continued to head towards Konoha at their steadily gaining pace and soon Sasuke could see the impending gates of the Hidden Leaf Village.

The other members of the former Team Seven started to match pace with Sasuke in between them as the other teams behind him started to form a tighter group.

Sasuke needn't look back to see that the group was visibly more unified. He assumed then that the others in the group had indeed wondered about Sasuke's entrance into the village.

What he did need to look at was Naruto's face once more to reassure himself that he was still resting peacefully.

When he faced forwards, Sasuke saw a figure waiting for them at the gates.

As the group neared the giant gates, he saw that the figure was Tsunade.

Kakashi raised his hand as both a greeting to the Hokage as well as a signal to the rest of the group to slow down.

The group slowed down and in turn formed an even tighter formation; they were all about an arm's length away from one another.

The group then stopped as one right in front of the gates. The mandatory ninjas on guard duty saw that it was a group of fellow Konoha ninja and left the inspection to their Hokage who was already walking towards the teams. Tsunade assessed the group, eyes lingering on Sasuke, and then turned her attention towards the blonde in his arms.

She gasped and started towards Sasuke, though her focus was entirely on Naruto.

"Lady Hokage!" one of the guards shouted as a warning when they saw who she was headed towards. The guard and another one of the guards present took out their kunai. The two other guards noticed the reason for their fellow ninja's reactions and made to protect their Hokage from the threat with their bodies.

Sasuke's eyebrows creased into a slight frown as he turned his body to shield the man in his arms from the approaching ninja, all the while facing the enemies with his activated Sharingan.

At the same time, Kakashi and Sakura next to him moved ahead of Sasuke and slipped into defensive stances, preparing to keep the guards away from Sasuke and more importantly away from Naruto while the other teams behind them tensed as they prepared to do the same.

"Enough!" Tsunade's voice sounded from behind the guards and former teammates. She pushed them aside despite protests or comments of indignation and continued walking towards Sasuke as if there was no interruption. The only indication that there was the disruption was her changed demeanor. She no longer walked in a daze but with a now serious expression on her face. She was also visibly more agitated because of the guards' reactions.

Once Tsunade reached Sasuke, the two had a glaring match; both evaluating how well the other could take care of and protect the blonde Sasuke was keeping from Tsunade.

"Show him to me." Tsunade demanded, crossing her arms as an open declaration of superiority.

Sasuke resisted the overwhelming urge to growl in anger at the older woman, but couldn't help but allow the tamoe in his sharingan to spin a little in his anger. He would not allow someone—anyone—to see his unconscious love simply because they demanded to. In his anger, Sasuke forgot that Tsunade was probably asking from a medical point of view and that was in fact the reason he needed Naruto to return to the village so quickly.

Tsunade then lowered her arms and ceased glaring.

"Please?" she asked in a softer voice, the underlying plea was evident.

When he heard the honesty in the other's voice, Sasuke's sharingan deactivated. Obsidian eyes searched brown eyes to see if she was trustworthy enough to see Naruto and to keep the antsy guards away from him.

Sasuke slightly inclined his head to show that he had found what he was searching for and slowly turned his body around to reveal the man his arms held.

Tsunade gasped when she saw Naruto, eyes running over his tranquil expression.

She raised her hand hesitantly, pulling it back every so often as if afraid that if she would break the illusion if she touched him. The hesitation and fear were evident in her eyes that were entirely focused on the other blonde's whiskered face.

Understanding the uncertainty he saw before him, Sasuke uncurled his arms so Tsunade could see more than just Naruto's face and so she had better access to the boy she considered family.

At the motion, Tsunade's eyes flew upwards in astonishment before shifting back to Naruto.

Tsunade's eyes flashed with determination as she raised her hand once more. She then placed a tentative finger on Naruto's forehead.

She openly gasped, eyes filling with unshed tears as a watery smile spread on her face. She let loose a happy laugh as she pressed her entire palm on Naruto's forehead.

Sasuke stood still while the woman he knew Naruto considered family was happily running her fingers through Naruto's golden bangs in a repetitive, soothing motion.

He allowed the interaction for about another two minutes before clearing his throat; Naruto still needed to go to a proper hospital for a full diagnosis.

Tsunade looked up at him with mild irritation but her eyes were still glazed with wonder as her hand was still running through Naruto's hair.

"He collapsed." Sasuke stated; he knew that the other would understand who he was talking about.

"But we think it was just from exhaustion after Sasuke undid the jutsu, he's physically fine." Sakura quickly added in when she saw that her Shishou's expression had turned from bliss to horror.

Instantly, Tsunade was in medical-nin mode and the change was evident in her serious, calculating expression as her eyes roamed once more over the boy in Sasuke's arms.

She lifted both arms and poured her chakra through them for an impromptu examination to see for herself that Sakura's words were true. Once she had, she faced Sasuke and spoke to the group as a whole.

"Uchiha, Sakura, and Kakashi: take him to the hospital. Sakura and Shizune: begin prepping him for the examinations. Everyone else: take _them_" her eyes briefly skimmed over the unconscious figures of the ANBU members who had been placed on the ground when the group had stopped, "to the interrogation headquarters and tell Ibiki to keep a special eye on them as well as assign other ANBU to guard them. Then you may go to the hospital if you so choose BUT make sure the mission report is in my office before morning."

The group nodded their understanding and made take off, heaving the unconscious bodies onto their shoulders before they were interrupted.

"WAIT, LADY HOKAGE!" one of the guards shouted, "Don't you realize who that is? That's the Uchiha traitor!"

"We can't let him enter the village because he has taken one of our own captive!" another guard shouted right afterwards.

"We have to alert the other ninja!" another guard yelled as he signaled to the fourth guard to do as he suggested.

The guards were nodding at the others' statements, urging their Hokage to take action against the traitor, and waiting for the signal to attack or fetch backup.

They were then startled when the guards' desk on the side of the gates was crushed.

They turned around to see a livid pink-haired ninja glaring at them.

"I am well aware as to who this is." Tsunade's voice rang with authority and irritation.

The guards turned back towards her.

"I am also aware that I had just ordered him to take my gaki to the hospital, who he had saved, NOT kidnapped! He is here in the village under my recommendation and he is not a threat. Now get back to your posts before I really get pissed."

The guards numbly nodded in fear of a pissed Hokage and turned to walk back to their posts.

The group had left the instant the guards turned their backs and did not see two of them send confused looks to the now destroyed desk which was their former post.

Sasuke headed towards the hospital with Tsunade in the lead of their group of four. He somehow ended up between his former Team Seven. He figured it was to partially hide him from general view as they group rushed towards the hospital so there would be no more interruptions or distractions.

When they reached the hospital, none of the nurses questioned the group of four as they made way to one of the examination rooms. Sasuke attributed this to the fact that Tsunade was leading them with Sakura in their midst so their qualifications were unneeded and the other medical-nin were too busy to thoroughly check who was coming into the hospital with Tsunade.

They met Shizune at the doors of the examination room, she and Sakura promptly dashed inside to prep the room.

Tsunade, however, stopped the two men just outside the room. She held out her arms as a silent command to hand Naruto over.

Sasuke hesitated for a moment before conceding that he really did need to let Tsunade take care of Naruto while he was being examined.

He gave a slight inclination of his head to show that he was complying before carefully moving his precious person from the safety of his arms to Tsunade's arms.

As soon as the warmth of Naruto left him, Sasuke narrowed his eyes; his head in battle with itself over his desires and logic.

To compromise, he gave Tsunade a slight glare as a warning for what would happen should Sasuke learn that some harm has beheld Naruto when he was outside the safety of Sasuke's protection.

Tsunade's narrowed eyes and indignant scowl as well as her whispering, "Watch it, brat," let Sasuke know that the message was received.

After Naruto was successfully transferred between the two, Tsunade turned her head to face Kakashi and said, "You two are allowed to stay out here. The others will have to wait in the common area."

She then turned with Naruto in her arms and entered the examination room. Sasuke couldn't see what happened next because Sakura then closed the doors.

Sasuke and Kakashi were left to wait outside. Neither of them spoke to one another, though Kakashi did arrange it so they were sitting next to one another; they were both tense in their own ways.

Kakashi had an Icha Icha Paradise book open in front of him, but he was barely reading it. His eyes would often travel from the book to the closed doors and linger for a few moment before returning to his beloved book without his usual enthusiasm.

Sasuke glowered at the closed doors the entire time they had to wait. He knew that his worries about what was happening behind the door were irrational; Naruto was physically fine with three fully qualified and—somewhat—trustworthy medical-nin. He knew the three in there with Naruto cared about him and loved him as very close friends or even family and would never allow anything to harm Naruto in his defenseless state.

But those double doors separated Sasuke from Naruto, so it deserved the full might of the Uchiha Glare.

A few people meandered through the hallways behind them, but neither of the men paid the background noise much attention, they only bothered to move their chairs so they would not be in direct view of the hallway and those who would travel through it both for precaution for Sasuke and for convenience for the both of them.

Gai, Neji, Shikamaru and a brunette with large eyes came to join them, asking about Naruto's condition. Kakashi dealt with them, after he answered that the examination was still in progress, he calmly told them that they and the others needed to wait in the common area. Neji, Shikamaru, and the other ninja complied but Gai demanded to know why, reasoning that they needed to be near Naruto to provide encouragement through the power of youth.

Before Sasuke could direct his glare from the damned door to the overly energetic, green-clad Sensei, Kakashi told him that it was Hokage's orders and that the area needed to be clear in case of emergencies.

Gai understood and left after saying something about youth that Sasuke tuned out; he was redirecting all of his focus on the damned doors once again.

Sasuke was willing the door to be destroyed by the hands of some vicious animal or be sent away to the academy with a giant target mark on it so it would be doomed to an eternity of beatings by children as it was not worthy of being destroyed by a competent ninja. He wanted it to suffer the humiliation of knowing it was not worthy of that or to suffer through the savage pain of a feral beast that would show it no mercy. Maybe he could find a way to split those doors from their set and send each to its separate doom without its companion to comfort it. Those doors deserved that and more for separating him from his Naruto.

His inner musings were interrupted when the doors opened.

Shizune stepped out and turned to the two men who immediately stood up.

"Naruto is awake." She announced with a smile on her face.

Sasuke felt his entire body relax as we let go of the breath he was not aware he was holding. He did not allow himself to fully smile, but a small grin let the world know just how happy he sincerely was over the news.

Next to him, Kakashi's smile was evident through the mask he wore at all time.

"Can we see him?" Kakashi asked.

Not waiting for an answer, Sasuke started to stride forwards to open those damned doors that dared close themselves after Tsunade's assistant had walked through them. Cocky little bastards.

"No—wait!" a hand was flung in front of Sasuke before he could show those doors that they were not above an Uchiha. Sasuke turned his head and saw that the arm was attached to Shizune.

"Naruto is awake—but you can't see him yet." Shizune stated, avoiding Sasuke's eyes and choosing to focus on Kakashi, though Sasuke saw her arm shiver a little.

"What?" Sasuke's sharingan automatically activated as he faced the rest of his body towards the slightly intimidated aide who was holding her ground, though looking anywhere but at Sasuke. "No. I'm going in. Now." Sasuke started to make his way to shove through those cocky doors when he felt a sturdy hand on his shoulders.

"May we ask why we are not allowed in?" Sasuke heard from behind him. Kakashi's tone was light, but the hand on Sasuke's shoulder tightened to show both that Kakashi was a little frustrated with not being allowed in but also that he would follow orders.

"We need his account of what happened so that those who put under the influence of the jutsu can be brought to justice as soon as possible. We also need to assess just how aware Naruto is or is not about the situation. If he is not aware, then he will need time to adjust and if not then he will need time to give an unbiased account of what happened. We will tell you when you may come in, now if you will excuse me." Shizune gave a slight bow and headed back through those damned doors and closed them once more.

Sasuke wanted to slice through those metallic messengers from the devil with his katana and see Naruto anyways now that he knew his love was awake, but Kakashi's hand was still on his shoulder leading him back to the chairs.

Sasuke knew that directly disobeying the Hokage—no matter how justified—would not be the best way to convince her to let him stay in the village, so he silently complied; though he did glare harder at the double doors that once again separated Sasuke from a now awake Naruto.

Sasuke resumed his glaring at the doors. Time went by very slowly and he was running out of scenarios where those doors met the untimely end.

He considered making it into a cutout of himself and feeding it to his former rabid fangirls of his past and suppressed a shudder; even in mere memory those creatures sent chills down the Uchiha's spine.

He also pictured painting those doors with the blood of that fucking bastard and that fucking ANBU squad and feeding all of the corpses to those snakes the snake-bastard used to summon before Sasuke killed him.

The thought almost made him smirk, but he was too preoccupied with hating those doors and bastards to form the expression.

If he had to wait any longer, then Sasuke might have reduced himself to pacing, but Uchihas do not pace. That would be a visible indicator that the stress of waiting was getting to the stoic ninja, but that would be unacceptable. Sasuke wouldn't pace.

Sasuke wanted to sigh, how much longer did he have to wait? But he childishly noticed that the stress seemed to not affect Kakashi in any visible way, and there was no way that an Uchiha would be shown inferior to anyone else by giving unacceptable indicators of uneasiness or anticipation.

Finally at long last those damn double doors both opened revealing Tsunade standing in the middle of them.

"You can go in now."

* * *

><p><strong>So that was the chapter.<strong>

**Ugh, I've had like, a bitch of a writer's block. Not for lack of ideas, in fact I've gotten more ideas for more stories during this absence; but I won't start them until I'm finished with my current stories. No, it's not lack of ideas but rather my muse is being blocked from articulating the ideas. She hasn't been giving me the words to write down the chapters from the outline to finished project. I've been starting and stopping, sometimes only writing a single paragraph at a time. It's been so sad, but I couldn't get mad at my muse and force things out of her in fear that she'd keep the block going on even longer.**

**So I hope ya enjoyed the chapter! Next one is the last chapter dun-dun-duuuuun!**

**Thanks to those who fave/alerted the story. I've even gotten some author fave/alerts and I get all giddy because then I feel like people actually like my writing and want to read more than just one story so I smiles a lot.**

**And an extra super special awesome thanks to those who review! You guys are my muse's muse and she feels bad for blocking because she writes for the reviews since they are her energy source.**

**Thanks again!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I didn't create the series, so the characters are not mine. The plot is, and it's a pretty amazifying one if I do say so myself, but the Naruto world isn't mine.**

**13 has always been a special number for my family—well more for my mother in accordance to my older sister. My older sister was born on the 12th, but she was born late at night light around 11:30ish, my mom was having complications so the doctor said that it would be safer to do a C-Section. My mom basically screamed that yes, they should do that. The doctor, misunderstanding what the raised volume meant, asked if she was in particular pain. My mom shouted that her daughter would NOT be born on the 13th in fear or having birthdays on Friday the 13th. **

**Ever since then, my sister had the unfortunate luck of being associated with the number 13. There were 13 kids in her pre-school class. For many years, she would have 13 friends come to her birthday parties. She was a part of 13 kids from our middle school that went to her high school. She graduated high school on the 13th. And many little things involving her and the number 13. So now it's a running gag within the family to save #13 for her.**

**Of course that has nothing to do with the story. Just a fun fact about this number. Another fun fact! I actually structured the story to fit into 13 chapters.**

**Anyways, onward with the story!**

* * *

><p>'<em>Why is everything so damn bright<em>?' Naruto asked the general population, not fully aware that the question was not asked aloud.

'_Why isn't anyone turning off the sun?'_ Naruto mentally asked to his imaginary audience again.

Naruto then assumed that Kurama had decided that making everything too damn bright would be a pretty fucking funny way to wake him up for whatever reason. Kurama didn't usually wake him up, but when he did, it was always in some way that Kurama found hilarious at Naruto's expense.

'_Dammit, 'Rama! Just lemme sleep!_' Naruto shouted at Kurama in his head. But Kurama didn't respond; and the damn light was still on.

'…_Why isn't anyone answering?'_ Naruto asked himself.

As he searched his mind for an answer, he began to realize that he was not in his usual sewer system with Kurama. He didn't know where he was, he just knew that it was too damn bright and it was blinding and irritating.

It took a while for him to fully realize what it meant for him to not be in his usual dark sewer system, and when it did, he mentally jumped.

'_Wait—does this mean my training with 'Rama is done? The elders finally cleared me?'_ Naruto asked mentally, still not fully aware that he would not receive an answer.

Now, he couldn't wait to wake up from wherever he was. Screw resting! Naruto wanted to _do_ something! He could swear that his training took, like, years! He was itching to go train, maybe he could convince someone to spar with him; Naruto wanted to test out the results of his training with Kurama.

The more Naruto tried to concentrate on getting up and _leaving_ wherever he was, the more his brain felt like fuzzy cotton. Coherent thoughts refused to be thought; they would begin to form but almost immediately fade to wondering what he was thinking about.

Naruto couldn't concentrate, but he found that he did not mind that; he didn't want to think.

'_This isn't _resting_…just taking a break…_' Naruto said to himself, needing to explain to himself why he was allowing himself to not force himself to jump up and train. He simply did not have the energy.

With this newfound discovery, Naruto realized that he wanted to go back to sleep; to go back to not thinking.

The only thing that was in his way was the damn bright light.

Wait—and beeping noises?

Naruto became suddenly aware of all the extra, bothersome noises surrounding him. He heard that beeping noise, very close to him judging by the volume. He heard people talking and moving around, pretty far from him judging by how distant it sounded. He heard someone pacing, the heels he heard indicated it was a woman. He also heard whispering.

"Stop pacing already, Sakura! You're going to make me dizzy just by watching you!"

"How can you be sure the dizziness isn't coming from all that sake you're drinking?"

"How many times have I told the both of you that you need to stay quiet?"

Naruto would have been shocked had he the energy to really care, but in his current state all he felt was a lingering confusion. Since coming back from his training with Jiraiya, he had never had any reason to doubt that Sakura, Shizune, and Granny Tsunade got along extremely well. He had never heard them snap at each other like they were now.

"You can be quiet yourself, Shizune! And don't get started with me, Sakura! I already have Shizune taking my sake from me, and the gaki—" Granny Tsunade stopped stalking abruptly. She sounded as if she was close to crying. But why would she be crying?

The only time Naruto had ever seen her even close to shedding tears was after Jiraiya died. But that was about two or three months ago, a couple of weeks before Pain had attacked. The village was fine! Sure, the buildings were being rebuilt, but the villagers themselves were closer than ever. Why would she be crying?

Naruto heard more movement, heels clacking against the floor once more. Then he heard Shizune whispering in a comforting tone, "He's just sleeping. You checked him yourself, and we rechecked him just in case. He'll be fine. He'll be our same N—"

"How can you be so sure?" Sakura cut her off, "What if he wakes up and he'll still be under their control? Or what if the jutsu wasn't lifted correctly and something went wrong? Or what if he doesn't wake up? Oh Kami, what if he doesn't ever wake up?" Sakura's voice grew more desperate, like she too was trying to hold back tears.

'_But WHY? Who are they talking about?_' Naruto wondered to himself, "_But more importantly—why can't they go somewhere else_?' He supposed that he should be more worried about why three of his favorite women were obviously worried and on the brink of breaking down; but at the moment, all he cared about was taking his nap.

More whispered arguments took place with the volume rising as the arguments became more heated. Apparently, Shizune was trying to reassure Granny Tsunade as well as Sakura that 'he', whoever 'he' was, was going to wake up and come back to them, despite both of the other asking about different possible scenarios where 'he' did not come back to them.

Granny Tsunade and Sakura seemed adamant about 'he' not waking up or something else bad happening no matter what Shizune said.

Poor Shizune.

'_But why do they have to be so damn loooouuuuud?'_ Naruto asked himself, '_First the light and now this? Why can't they just lemme take a friggin' nap?_'

The arguments continued as did the ever increasing volume. It was no longer whispers but at a slightly louder volume than normal.

Naruto could hardly take it all anymore. The noises were overpowering him and that annoying bright light cut through everything else.

He squinted his eyes shut, hard, willing the muscles to block out the light. He'd deal with the noises later.

Suddenly, Naruto heard a gasp. Then he heard questioning the one who gasped about the reason why for the sudden intake of breath. Then silence.

Naruto gave a relieved sigh. '_Finally! I can sleep!_' he silently rejoiced.

But the blessed quiet did not last long.

"Did you see that?" Sakura asked excitedly, and very loudly.

"Yes! Yes! I saw it!" Shizune replied, just as excitedly and just as loudly.

"Does that mean he's waking up?" Sakura asked, still loudly albeit a little softer, not that it mattered to Naruto. It was still loud and he still wanted it to be quiet.

More excited debates between Sakura and Shizune erupted, but Naruto did not pay attention. He just wanted things to be _quiet_.

The volume peaked once more, and Naruto let loose an annoyed groan, '_Why are women so damn loud_?'

He paid no attention to the irony that he, Naruto Uzumaki, was complaining of people being loud.

He was too distracted by how Granny Tsunade was _thankfully_ telling the other two to be quiet.

The other two reverted to whispering, which both annoyed Naruto and gave him inspiration. Maybe if he made more noises himself, then the others would be quiet and let him sleep.

"Nng." Naruto groaned, hoping his plan will work.

His groan was met with three startled gasps. Then—

"Naruto?" Granny Tsunade asked quietly, as if weary of the answer she could receive. Three sets of footsteps quickly walked over to where he assumed he was.

'_Maybe if I stay quiet, they'll get the hint._' Naruto thought to himself.

"Naruto?" Granny Tsunade asked again, this time in a louder, more confident tone; determined to get an answer out of him.

Damn. The plan didn't work.

"Naruto?" Granny Tsunade tried again, "Can you hear me?" Her voice was wavering with effort to not cry; her tone growing desperate.

Naruto started to feel guilty. He had no idea why she sounded so vulnerable—so defeated—but he knew that his prolonged silence was definitely not helping.

But he didn't want to wake up. His brain was all fuzzy and his body heavy. He didn't have much energy like usual, he just wanted to _sleep_.

"Please…" Granny Tsunade choked out; the effort to not cry was obviously building in her voice.

Naruto couldn't stand hearing someone he considered family sound so wounded. He needed to wake up.

Now.

"MMnng." Naruto moaned with effort to wake up.

His body seemed to be against him. Before, his body was lethargically heavy, simply letting him know that it didn't want him to move. Now it felt as if something was pressing against his body; a weight holding it down.

"Naruto?" Granny Tsunade asked, evidently happier now that she had gotten a response.

Maybe he could have let it off then, just continue grunting so he wouldn't have to actually wake up.

No, Naruto knew that he needed to wake up. He said that he would and that meant he would. Naruto Uzumaki does not give up.

Naruto concentrated all his effort into opening his eye; to waking up.

He tried squinting even harder, then relaxing his eyelids.

Naruto's efforts earned him gasps, but not opened eyes.

Dammit.

He tried again three more times before his eyes finally opened.

He was rewarded with blinding white light.

Maybe he should have kept his eyes closed.

"Naruto!" three voices shouted in surprise and relief, louder than they had been before.

Yeah, he should have stayed asleep.

Naruto blinked several times, trying to force his eyes to adjust to the blinding light. When that didn't work, he decided to screw it and with great difficulty lifted his arm and threw it over his eyes, finally blocking out that damned bright light.

His actions caused another round of gasps. Really now, it was starting to get annoying. Why did everything he did cause everyone to gasp? Honestly! All he did was come back from his training with Kurama. He's only been gone for like, a week or two, right? It's not like he's been gone for years!

"…Naruto?" Granny Tsunade asked hesitantly, and thankfully quietly. "Naruto, can you hear me?"

"Mm." Naruto replied. He didn't have the energy to reply in coherent sentences. Granny Tsunade would just have to deal with his monosyllable replies.

Three happy gasps answered his reply. It was _seriously_ starting to get annoying. Why was it sooo impressive that he started sounding like Sasuke?

'_Sasuke…_' Naruto mused to himself. He recently had a dream about his long-lost best friend.

He had dreamt that Sasuke had visited him in his mind's sewer system. He had told Naruto that he had been controlled by Sai and been forced to go on reserve missions as an ANBU. The dream had seemed so real! But the strangest part was not the content of the dream, but rather the Uchiha's actions.

Sasuke had been hugging—HUGGING—him!

"_Naruto, I finally found you._"

What had he meant? Sasuke had left the village years ago! The last time the two had met, Sasuke had made it _very_ clear that he did not want to return to Konoha.

The thought, like always, had depressed Naruto.

Why was Sasuke so obsessed with revenge anyways? Why couldn't he realize that revenge was _not_ the only thing in his life and that it was actually killing him from the inside?

Why couldn't he just return to Konoha? Return HOME? Return back to people who miss him?

…back to people who love him?

It embarrassed Naruto to admit it, but Sasuke was his first love. He had always known that Sasuke was special to him, but he had misinterpreted his feelings as a simple rivalry back when they were younger. His constant desire to prove himself to Sasuke was thought to be a simple case of wanting to overcome his rival. His extreme happiness whenever Sasuke had acknowledged him was thought to be simply because of the action rather than who it was acknowledging him.

But it was anything but simple.

It was during his training with Jiraiya when Naruto had finally learnt what his feelings actually were.

Love.

He had tried to deny it to himself for many weeks; tried to remind himself that it was Sakura he loved. But too much time to introspect meant that he had come to terms that he did indeed love Sasuke and not Sakura.

Not that it deterred him from trying to make Sasuke return, just the opposite, really. It fueled him.

Naruto was not, however, a complete idiot like many people might have thought. He knew that Sasuke would never return his love. He was a GUY for Kami's sake! Besides, who could ever love a demon vessel?

He knew that Sasuke would never return his love, but apparently that did not stop his dreams from creating an older Sasuke who was fond of hugging him.

He did not know how to handle dream-Sasuke's hugging him, so he avoided it. He knew he would not be able to handle Sasuke rejecting him, even if it was only dream-Sasuke.

But if he was completely honest with himself, he would admit that he really, really wanted dream-Sasuke to return. He had loved it when dream-Sasuke held him in his arms; he felt so secure, safer than he had ever felt in reality.

Naruto had finally felt truly excepted when dream-Sasuke had held him.

"—Naruto? Naruto? What's wrong? Did something happen? Please, please answer me, Naruto!"

Granny Tsunade's voice cut through Naruto's musings, bringing him back to bitter reality.

'_Ugh, dammit._' Naruto thought to himself.

Well, at least his time daydreaming had somehow relieved some of the exhaustion he had felt before. His limbs felt like normal again and he did not feel like sleeping anymore.

"Naruto!" Granny Tsunade cut in again.

Dammit, that was the second time in a row.

"Yeah, I heard you, you old hag!" Naruto replied, not in the best of moods.

He halfway regretted it, normally he wouldn't care about calling Granny Tsunade an old hag, but he assumed he was in a hospital so calling the head doctor with a nasty temper an old hag when he was weakened in some way might not have been the best idea.

Naruto was expecting a slap on the head and t be called a brat, or some other form of violent retaliation.

What he was not expecting, was another gasp, followed by what sounded like crying.

Naruto then felt a sudden awareness that somebody was approaching him and he was put on full alert. He was not sure why, but he knew that there was an enemy approaching him!

He shot up to a sitting position, muscles tensed and ready to attack.

His wide eyes scanned the area around him; all he saw was a white wall and the rest of his bed.

He felt the intruder's presence on his right side, approaching him, so he spun his upper body around; arms ready to attack.

Naruto blinked a couple of times; all he saw were Granny Tsunade, Shizune, and Sakura.

He was confused, was the enemy hiding behind them?

Naruto peered around the women in front of him, and when he saw nothing, he turned his attention towards them.

Shizune looked happily shocked, or rather shocked at his actions with a thrilled undertone lying underneath the newer emotion. Granny Tsunade had her hands clasped in front of her mouth, her eyes swimming with unshed tears, but the only emotion he could read was pure happiness for some reason he couldn't understand. Sakura had the same expression as Shizune, though her shock was more evident; her arm was also outstretched in front of her, close to Naruto.

Shizune and Granny Tsunade looked about the same, but Shizune's hair was a little longer than he remembered, but maybe because he never paid much attention to things like that. Sakura's hair was definitely longer, though. And her outfit resembled Granny Tsunade's coat more now, too.

Naruto was confused, where was the enemy?

"Uhh, Granny, where'd the enemy go?" he asked.

Out of all the reactions Naruto had expected, Granny Tsunade crying had not been one of them.

"Woah! Granny! What's wrong? Why are you crying?" Naruto asked, his eyes searching the other two women for a possible answer, but only saw Sakura.

He looked across the room to see Shizune stepping through a pair of heavy looking double-doors.

Granny Tsunade sniffed a couple of times and wiped her tears away unsuccessfully a couple of times—making Naruto turn his attention from the retreating assistant back to Granny Tsunade—before answering, "Naruto, it's really you!"

Her reply only drove Naruto further into his confusion.

"Why wouldn't I be me?" he asked, his face expressing just how confused he felt.

His question seemed to calm Granny Tsunade down a little. Her expression changing from her happy crying one to a calmer, more serious expression Naruto recognized as her doctor-mode.

There was a pause. During the pause, Shizune returned through the double-doors and sat next to Sakura.

"Naruto, what's the last thing you remember?" she asked in a professional tone that meant she expected her answers quick and concise.

"Uhhhh, going to the elders and them telling me I had to do special training to be able to control Kyuubi." Naruto didn't bother asking why, he knew he'd just be told to shut up and answer her questions.

"And when was that?" she continued asking.

"I dunno, maybe two, three weeks ago?" Naruto replied, scratching the back of his neck. He felt a little embarrassed that he couldn't remember the details that well.

A somber, more thoughtful expression now covered Granny Tsunade's face—all three women's faces—at Naruto's last answer, adding to his confusion.

Granny Tsunade heaved a sigh, "That's actually not true, gaki."

"What?" Naruto intelligently asked.

"That meeting between you and the elders happened over two years ago." Granny Tsunade told Naruto with a pained expression.

Naruto froze upon hearing this.

"What? Two YEARS?" He asked, almost as loudly as the women had been before.

He turned to Shizune and Sakura, surely Granny Tsunade had to be joking and they would tell him the truth!

Two somber faces told him without words that what Granny Tsunade was saying was the truth, but it couldn't be! How could two YEARS go by without his noticing?

His muscles automatically tensed when he felt an enemy presence approaching him with a weapon.

Naruto whipped his upper body to face his opponent, but was greeted by a subdued Granny Tsunade holding a mirror.

He checked around the room to make sure whatever enemy presence he was feeling was only in his mind. After confirming that he must be crazy or at least crazy-tired, Naruto wearily accepted the mirror; unsure of what he was meant to do with it.

He held it up to face Granny Tsunade, maybe she wanted someone to hold her mirror while she did her weirdo age jutsu to continue fooling everyone into not believing she was actually Granny-aged?

His actions received giggling from Sakura and Shizune, as well as an amused grin that was quickly suppressed from Granny Tsunade.

"Not for me, brat. YOU look at it." She ordered with a dull grin, as if she knew some depressing information Naruto did not know.

Naruto darted his eyes from the back of the mirror to Granny Tsunade. Why did she want him to look in a mirror? He never cared much about his looks.

With a shrug, he turned the mirror around.

He saw his reflection.

And dropped the mirror on his lap.

Naruto gave Granny Tsunade a horrified look, begging for answers.

The man in the mirror was NOT him! Naruto has sixteen years old! He was a healthy, smiling, cheerful teenager! The man in the mirror was older than he was! The man in the mirror had unhealthily pale skin! The man in the mirror's face was more animalistic than he was! Smiles seemed foreign to the man in the mirror's face!

Naruto silently pleaded for answers. That person in the mirror was NOT him!

Granny Tsunade only shook her head and gestured back to the mirror.

He frantically shook his head and turned to Sakura and Shizune. Maybe THEY had the answer to the mystery man in the mirror!

Unfortunately, their response was to sadly gesture towards the mirror in his lap, just like Granny Tsunade had done.

Naruto looked back at the mirror lying on his lap, seemingly giving him an innocent reflection of the ceiling. But Naruto was smarter than the mirror; he knew the truth!

The mirror was actually a magic mirror!

Granny Tsunade probably acquired it during her travels because it shows young people how they would look if they were older; and old people what they looked like when they were younger!

With this new knowledge, Naruto felt no fear when he picked up the magic mirror again and stared at the magically older version of himself—if that was really him.

The man in the magic mirror stared intently back at him, like he was doing to the man in the magic mirror.

Naruto moved his head from side to side; the man in the magic mirror did the same.

Naruto gave an angry expression, then an overly happy expression, then a sad expression, then finally sticking his tongue out at the magic mirror.

The man in the magic mirror followed every expression with him and was sticking his tongue out at Naruto, too.

That confirmed Naruto's theory that the mirror was actually a magic mirror showing him what he would look like when he got older.

'_Damn, I need to spend more time out in the sun in the future._'

"Uhh, thanks for the magic mirror? But why do I need to see my future self?" Naruto asked.

Granny Tsunade did not give him an answer. She just stared at him sadly, as did the other two women.

Naruto blinked in confusion, then squinted his eyes as he tried to concentrate as to why Granny Tsunade would want to give him her magic mirror.

Maybe it was a warning? That if he did not do something soon then he would grow up to be sickly pale and have his whiskers more pronounced in a creepy way?

"Am I sick or something and your magic mirror is your way of making sure I take my medicine?" Naruto asked, still confused. He cocked his head to the side as he waited for an answer from any of the three.

Sakura and Shizune's expressions grew even more somber while Granny Tsunade's grew a little annoyed but the underlying sadness grew as well.

"Naruto," she began in a soft tone, as if she was preparing to tell him someone close to him had died, "that mirror is a normal mirror. It's not magic."

"But…what?" Naruto asked. Of COURSE it was magic! That was the only way to explain the older version of himself in it!

"Naruto, what I said before is true. That meeting you had with the elders was over two years ago." Granny Tsunade said in the same tone, her eyes begging him to understand.

"What? My training couldn't have been THAT long! I was just out with Sakura at Ichiraku's Ramen!" Naruto exclaimed, trying to make sense of things.

At his exclamation, Sakura burst out into tears, her expression haunted by guilt.

"S-Sakura…" Naruto said weakly, he did not want anyone to cry—especially Sakura! What was going on?

"Oh, Naruto!" Sakura cried as she stood up to hug him.

Naruto was instantly aware of the enemy's presence, no longer of anything else. The enemy was approaching him!

The enemy was going to attack with their right arm. They were approaching at a slow pace, leaving themselves completely open for Naruto's counter-attack.

The enemy had their hand outstretched, aiming for his shoulder.

As a reflex, Naruto grabbed the enemy's upper wrist in case their jutsu was centralized on their hand.

He then pulled the enemy closer to him with a sharp jerk.

He thrust his palm out and hit the base of the enemy's shoulder, severely injuring the socket.

After the enemy's body stopped moving abruptly after his palm made contact.

He then moved his palm from the front of the shoulder socket to the back, simultaneously pulling the enemy's wrist closer to him so their arm was pulled straight.

Naruto then pushed his palm down on the enemy's shoulder, pushing the enemy's body down with considerable strength.

He also thrust his knee up, pinning the enemy's body between his knee and his palm.

The enemy coughed; specks of blood flying out of their mouth.

Enemy was out of commission.

"Naruto!"

Naruto blinked and shook his head to clear his thoughts.

Where was he? Where was the enemy? WHO was the enemy? WHY was he fighting this mystery enemy?

Naruto blinked again. He was still in the hospital. He was still sitting in his hospital bed. He was still with Granny Tsunade, Shizune and—

SAKURA!

Naruto looked released his hold on Sakura and stared at his hands in shock.

What the hell just happened?

"S-Sakura?" Naruto weakly pleaded for her to reply.

He couldn't believe what had just happened. He—NARUTO—had just attacked Sakura! He hurt someone he swore he would protect!

Oh Kami, what did he just do?

It was as if he had switched to some sort of attack mode or something!

He had no awareness of anything other than the fact that there was an enemy attacking him and the need to defend and take out the threat.

But there was no enemy!

He had attacked Sakura! SAKURA!

"Naruto, calm down."

Granny Tsunade's voice broke Naruto out of his stupor. He looked up from his hands to see Shizune healing Sakura's abdomen and Sakura healing her shoulder, both sitting in chairs a couple of feet away.

"Sakura?" Naruto's voice begging for her to reply, to tell him that she isn't hurt, that is all right, that she isn't mad at him.

But even if she alleviated the blame from him, that wouldn't change a thing.

It was all his fault.

"It's not your fault, Naruto." Sakura told him, looking up to face him after she finished healing her shoulder and Shizune finished healing her abdomen as well.

"Yes it is." Naruto insisted. He knew Sakura getting hurt was his fault, there was no use in trying to pretend otherwise.

"No, it's not." Granny Tsunade told him in a firmer voice than before, "It's those pompous narcissists that call themselves our village 'elders' faults."

Naruto's head flew over to face Granny Tsunade.

"What?" he asked; completely confused.

First she kept gasping at every little thing he did, next she said that he was actually two years older than he really was, then she gave him a magic mirror and claimed that what she had said earlier was true, and now she is trying to tell him that he hurting Sakura was not his fault but rather the elders' fault?

Naruto gave her a lost expression. He did not need riddles or confusing magic mirrors. He needed answers. Now.

Granny Tsunade, thankfully, seemed to understand. She gave him a nod, then sat down herself a few feet's distance between them and started to explain.

"The elders called you in for a meeting and claimed that you were going to train to control Kyuubi, but in actuality, they called you in so they could control _you_. You've been placed under a control jutsu for over two years. While you were under their control, they placed you under Sai's direct control as a member of his ANBU Squad. While under control, you have been forced to go on several reserve missions as the elders' vision of their perfect Jinchuuriki."

Naruto flinched at the term and turned away.

His head was spinning. Vague, fuzzy images of himself with team members popped into his head, all wearing ANBU Black Op uniforms. He also saw vague, fuzzy images of carnage; of blood.

His head was not only spinning with these images, but also words from his dream with older dream-Sasuke.

"_The elders discovered how to control your mind and make you fight for their needs_."

Naruto gasped, dream-Sasuke had told him almost exactly what Granny Tsunade was trying to tell him now!

Granny Tsunade continued her explanation, "Ever since you have been placed under Sai's control by the elders, you did not recognize anyone as individuals. To you, there were only allies and enemies. And anyone and everyone who was not on your ANBU Squad or an elder was an enemy."

Naruto turned to face her, horrified by what he was hearing.

"You would be put on either 'attack mode', 'sentry mode' or a 'rest mode'. You would automatically switch to 'attack mode' if someone other than your squad approached you, especially if they touched you."

Naruto looked away again and faced his hands.

"…So…" he started weakly, trying to make sense of the new information and why he would attack one of his best friends.

"So I'm guessing because you've been under Sai's control for so long, your body automatically reverted back to its reflexive 'attack' mode when Sakura approached you…It wasn't your fault." Granny Tsunade repeated the last part, to reiterate her earlier point.

Naruto's mind reeled with past images of himself fighting enemies, as if on instinct.

"…_you took out Sakura and Kakashi_."

Naruto gasped as another piece of dream-Sasuke's conversation replayed in his mind.

"…_you and I are in battle…. …you are using Kyuubi's chakra."_

More images of himself fighting enemies assaulted Naruto's mind, too fast to discern one from another. The only difference from the old ones was the fact that in these fuzzy, vague memories, Naruto was covered with a red chakra veil that only appeared when he entered his second state of using Kurama's chakra.

Granny Tsunade looked like she was about to continue when Naruto faced her, but he cut her off.

"There…there's another 'mode'…isn't there?" he asked in a low tone, the horrifying truth settling in.

Granny Tsunade paused, her expression growing dark; angry at someone outside of the hospital room.

"Yes…there's your 'ultimate mode'. Where you become the elder's perfect Jinchuuriki."

Naruto flinched at the term again.

He closed his eyes as he pressed his hands against his face. His head hurt from all the new information being processed and all of the images that had bombarded his mind.

One thing that confused him about him being controlled for two years up until now…

"Why didn't you stop them from controlling me?" Naruto asked into his hands. He wasn't blaming them; he just wanted to know why he was controlled for so long.

He could hear someone shift in their seat.

"Because we only found out recently." Granny Tsunade replied.

Naruto did not open his eyes, though he did lower his hands.

"For the past two years, only your Squad members and the elders were allowed access to you. You were kept hidden from us during that time." Granny Tsunade explained, her voice growing a little desperate for him to understand.

Naruto nodded, though he did not understand a few things.

"Then how did you find out?" Naruto asked, his eyes still closed.

A pause. Then—

"Sasuke."

Naruto's eyes flew open as he twisted his body to face Sakura after hearing her answer.

"_I finally found you."_

Naruto clutched the side of his head with his right arm. More memories of dream-Sasuke hugging him and whispering to him attacked his mind, making his head hurt even more.

"What?" he asked; pleading for more information.

Sakura gave a small smile as she explained herself.

"Sasuke was the one who discovered that you were being controlled. He helped formulate the plan and helped lead us on our mission to undo the jutsu—which he discovered how to. He was the one who fought Sai, and you when you were in you…'ultimate mode'…and he was the one who undid the jutsu."

Naruto was confused. Sasuke couldn't have done all that for him! Sasuke hated him! Why was Sasuke even near Konoha anyways? Sasuke had vowed to never return to the Hidden Leaf Village!

And why…why…

Naruto clutched his head with both hands, his head throbbing with pain.

He saw in his mind's eye Sasuke—looking exactly like dream-Sasuke—fighting with him.

He saw himself fighting Sasuke in a clearing, near nightfall, with Sasuke defending himself against Naruto; Sasuke's face contorted in an annoyed confusion.

He saw himself fighting in an area full of trees, both he and Sasuke evenly matching each other.

He saw himself fighting Sasuke in the same area, but with Sasuke breathing heavily and covered with bruises and Naruto covered with a veil of Kurama's chakra.

He saw Sasuke above him, pinning him to the ground.

He saw Sasuke kissing—

"WHAT?" Naruto shouted in his confusion, making the women jump.

"Naruto? Naruto, what's wrong?" Granny Tsunade asked, standing up and walking towards him.

Naruto's body tensed as he felt an enemy approach him.

He relaxed when he felt the enemy move away.

Looking up with a new confusion, Naruto glanced around, looking for the retreated enemy.

He saw Granny Tsunade stepping backwards with her hands held up in a surrendering position and Shizune and Sakura looking at Naruto wearily as if he was going to attack.

Then Naruto realized what their actions meant.

He had automatically switched back to his 'attack mode'.

Naruto slumped his shoulders, defeated. Just how much did he have to deal with in one day?

"Why?" he mumbled in a soft voice.

"Why what, gaki?" Granny Tsunade asked; her voice soft and reassuring.

Naruto lowered his hands and turned his head to face her, "Why would Sasuke do that?"

"_I love you._"

Naruto shook his head, and grimaced at the new onslaught of pain the action cause his already throbbing head.

He fought past it and looked at Sakura. He wanted answers.

Sakura shifted in her seat, she looked uncomfortable. She avoided Naruto's gaze at all costs.

He turned to Shizune, who also avoided his gaze.

Finally, Naruto turned to Granny Tsunade. This time, he gave her an annoyed look. He wanted his answers!

Granny Tsunade turned to him, and gave him a curious look on her face.

Before Naruto could openly demand for answers, she spoke up.

"You can ask him yourself."

"What?" Naruto asked, for what felt like the hundredth time. Why did these women insist on confusing his already fuzzy mind? Were ALL women sadists? Or just these three?

Granny Tsunade gestured towards the double doors on the other side of the room with her head and said, "He's here waiting for you."

"What? Why?" Naruto asked, seriously getting tired of being confused.

Granny Tsunade only grinned at him a suggested, "Why don't you ask him yourself?"

Naruto turned away from her, needing to collect his whirling thoughts. Was Granny Tsunade really telling the truth? Sasuke was really here?

"_I'm coming back to Konoha."_

Naruto grabbed his head with both hands once more. The new memory of what dream-Sasuke had said caused the throbbing to increase. He felt a new wave of pain every time his blood pulsated.

"Naruto?" Granny Tsunade asked.

With considerable effort, Naruto pulled his head away from his hands and faced her, making sure that none of the pain he was feeling showed on his face.

"Is it okay if I let him in?" she asked him, searching his face for an answer.

Naruto was torn. Was he ready to see Sasuke? Memories of Sasuke kissing him resurfaced in his throbbing mind, making him blush, which he quickly hid by turning away.

How could he face the real Sasuke when dream-Sasuke kept confusing Naruto? What if Naruto confused dream-Sasuke with real-Sasuke and let it slip that Naruto loved him? There was no question that Sasuke would reject him. He didn't think he could handle that…

In response to Naruto's silence, Granny Tsunade continued, "He's been waiting for you."

'_Waiting? Waiting for…for ME? Oh, probably waiting to rub my being stupid enough to be controlled in my face.'_ Naruto thought to himself.

He sighed, this could be the last time he saw the teme before he left the village again to seek some misplaced revenge. He might as well see him for one last time…

Naruto faced Granny Tsunade and nodded his head, "Okay." He whispered, his head throbbing too much to have the desire to speak up any louder than he already had.

Granny Tsunade gave him an encouraging smile and walked over to the doors.

She opened them up and announced, "You can go in now."

Naruto did not bother to look at whoever came through the doors. His head was still throbbing and it was taking a lot of effort to not voice out his pain. Instead, he opted for returning his hands to their rightful place on his head to alleviate the pain in any way they can.

He didn't pay much attention to the footsteps he heard, though he vaguely recognized that there were more than two pairs of footsteps. He mostly paid attention to willing the pain he felt away.

Suddenly, his body tensed. An enemy was approaching!

Naruto reflexively scanned the enemy's chakra, not a whole lot but they were experienced.

Naruto sprung into an upright position, effortlessly flowing into a defensive stance.

The enemy stopped.

Naruto's body relaxed, then his throbbing headache returned full force.

"Nng!" Naruto grunted as his hands flew back to his head.

"Naruto…"

Naruto's eyes popped open. It was Sasuke's voice! That baritone voice was definitely Sasuke!

But Sasuke had called him by his name…not 'usuratonkachi' or 'dobe'; just 'Naruto'. But he said it unlike any way he had in the past. In the past, whenever he said his name, Sasuke's voice was filled with annoyance, malice, sometimes amusement…but this time, his voice was filled with _relief_!

Naruto heard footsteps approaching him, and expected to tense up and look for an enemy.

Naruto looked up to his side in surprise.

He saw Kakashi-Sensei about ten meters away with Granny Tsunade, who had her hand on Kakashi-Sensei's shoulder as if pulling him back. He saw Sakura and Shizune, still sitting away from him, both turning to face the one approaching him.

"Sasuke?" Naruto whispered to himself, trying to convince himself that it was really his old teammate.

Sasuke looked exactly like dream-Sasuke had, like the Sasukes from his hazy memories that caused his extreme headache.

But this Sasuke was also different. Of course, he was still the same stoic bastard, not allowing any emotion to show through facial expressions like a normal person. But his eyes had dual emotions swirling in those endless black orbs. Sasuke was feeling relief and happiness, but also a hint of fear.

Sasuke was still approaching him, but it did not cause Naruto to tense up like all the others had.

When Sasuke had reached the side of Naruto's hospital bed, the two simply stared at each other; analyzing each other and wondering what the other was looking for.

The two searched each other's expressions, reassuring themselves that the other was really there.

Sasuke's stare was unwavering, fixed upon Naruto's eyes.

Naruto, though, had trouble keeping eye contact. His head hurt so much! He longed to look away and curl up in a ball with his hands wrapped around his head somewhere isolated and dark. He couldn't stand the constant throbbing that pulsated through his skull.

When Naruto thought he couldn't ignore the pain anymore, something surprising happened.

Sasuke hugged Naruto.

Naruto gasped and froze; unsure of what to do. Hell, he was unsure of what was happening!

In his shock, he did not realize that his throbbing headache had disappeared as soon as Sasuke wrapped his arms around him.

Naruto was too busy trying to wrap his mind around what was happening.

Sasuke…the TEME…his rival…the one who repeatedly tried to kill him…his secret love…Uchiha Sasuke…

…was hugging HIM!

HIM! NARUTO! The Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki! The dead last! The clumsy idiot who wouldn't amount to anything! The one Sasuke had thrown away.

Sasuke was hugging Naruto.

"Naruto," Sasuke whispered in a soft voice, "it's really you."

Sasuke's voice, while so soft that Naruto knew only he was able to hear, may have been guarded like in the past, but Naruto was able to hear the relief hidden within the whisper.

It took a while for Naruto to find his voice, "Of-Of course it's me, teme."

He deliberately called Sasuke 'teme'. A part of him greatly feared that if he exposed just how truly happy he was to see Sasuke, then his genius rival would see Naruto's true feelings and be disgusted by them and reject him and leave the village once more.

Naruto was still in his state of shock, until he felt Sasuke's hand move in circles on his back in soothing motions.

"WOAH! HOLD ON THERE, BASTARD!" Naruto exclaimed, breaking loose from Sasuke's hold on him and backing away from him, as far as he could on the hospital bed.

Naruto was about to demand to know what the hell that was with his hands, but his throbbing headache he was not aware had left him returned with full force, pounding his head even harder as if punishing him for forgetting about it.

"NNG!" Naruto grunted in pain; replacing his hands back on his head. Memories of conversations, hazy images, and new information all swirled through his battered mind.

He felt arms being wrapped around his body into an embrace, but he paid that no attention.

Naruto only paid attention to how the pain was leaving his head.

Instinctually, he leaned in closer to the source of whatever was making the pain go away.

The source was warm; safe. It made him feel secure. He knew that everything would be alright if he stayed with the source of this newfound comfort.

Naruto sighed in relief. His headache was completely gone!

It wasn't until after Naruto had finished his internal victory dance with Ramen noodles in his head did he realize exactly what the source of his comfort was.

Sasuke.

Sasuke hugging Naruto.

Again.

"Sasuke?" Naruto asked, utterly perplexed by the situation, though he made no effort to move; he wanted the headache to stay away as long as possible.

"Yes, usuratonkachi?" Sasuke replied in a slightly teasing tone that insinuated that the bastard knew more than Naruto.

In a way, Naruto truly appreciated the fact that Sasuke was teasing him. It reminded him of the time they had spent as teammates and rivals in Team Seven. It gave Naruto hope that the Sasuke from his memories—the Sasuke he loved—could return. It helped solidify the fact that it was Sasuke—SASUKE—hugging Naruto.

"Why are you h-hu—hu—" Naruto started, too embarrassed to finish the word, let alone the question.

"Hugging you?" Sasuke supplied. Naruto could practically _feel_ that condescending smirk on the Teme's face.

Naruto blushed and hid his face in his hands while leaning into Sasuke's shoulder to make sure no one saw his reaction to Sasuke's words.

He slowly nodded because he wanted an answer.

"Your head stopped hurting as soon as I hugged you. So I'm hugging you, you idiot." Sasuke said slowly and softly, a conversation meant only to be heard by the two involved. He was also talking as if he were speaking to a child; as if what he was saying was the most obvious thing in the world. He also just HAD to throw in an insult.

"…Teme…" Naruto mumbled into his hands, unsure of what else to say, but making sure Sasuke didn't get the last insult.

Naruto wasn't sure how to react.

This was definitely and irrefutably Uchiha Sasuke who was hugging him. The same Sasuke that he fell in love with all those years ago.

It was also the same Sasuke that had abandoned the village, who dedicated his life to revenge, who cast his friends away, and who had tried to kill him.

But here he was, in all of his stoic condescending bastard-ness of confusion, acting as if he had never defected.

In a way, almost nothing that Sasuke could do would come close to making Naruto happier. This was almost exactly what Naruto had been striving for all those years spent training to get the teme back to the village. It was like his memories, but in the current reality!

But it was as if Sasuke was ignoring all the crimes he had committed; all the pain he had caused.

"Teme. What are you doing?" Naruto asked in a firmer tone, but still quiet enough so that only the two of them could hear.

"Didn't we already establish this, dobe?" Sasuke asked, slightly amused.

"But you left."

Sasuke minutely stiffened, but due to the close proximity allowed Naruto to feel the normally unperceivable reaction.

Naruto knew that Sasuke knew what he meant, that things unfortunately could not immediately return to normal. Despite not wanting to deal with things, Sasuke had left the village and his teammates.

Sasuke could not just come back to do some random good deed and just leave afterwards.

Naruto needed to know what Sasuke was planning by helping him.

Sasuke shifted his position; he moved so that he was sitting on the bed rather than next to it and so that his chin rested atop Naruto's head.

"I'm coming back." Sasuke whispered into Naruto's hair.

This time, Naruto stiffened, but out of shock. Did he just hear what he thought he just heard?

Naruto recovered from his mini-shock and started to attempt to wiggle free so he could face Sasuke, but the teme kept a firm grip on him. Naruto only managed to free his hands.

The more he struggled, the more his head started to hurt—though less than before—so he stopped trying to break free.

"What?" Naruto whispered, glad for the fact that their conversation was so quiet because he was sure that his voice would have broke had he asked out loud.

Naruto felt Sasuke take a deep breath before he repeated loud enough for the rest of the room to hear, "I'm coming back to the village."

Naruto froze again, letting the new information settle.

Sasuke was coming back.

Sasuke was coming back.

Sasuke was coming _home_.

Naruto couldn't contain his joy, but couldn't find a way to express it either.

While Naruto was letting the information settle, Granny Tsunade spoke up from behind them, "Uchiha Sasuke."

Sasuke turned his head so that he was facing Granny Tsunade, though he pressed Naruto's face into his broad chest as to hide him from her.

"Hn." Sasuke replied.

"Due to the success of the mission, you will be granted temporary amnesty within Konoha. During this time, you may present your case to the council before you are put on trial officially." Granny Tsunade explained in her business tone.

"Hn." Sasuke replied, seemingly uncaring, but Naruto felt Sasuke's heart begin to race. How _did_ the Teme manage to hide his emotions like that to other people?

"I believe that your intentions are pure," Granny Tsunade continued in a gentler tone, "so you won't have to worry about whether or not you'll be getting the most influential vote because you got it when you brought my gaki back to me." The last part was spoken in a whisper.

Naruto tried to free his head so he could look at Granny Tsunade or Sasuke in confusion, but gave up because the effort became futile.

And if he was perfectly honest with himself, he would admit that he really loved being held in Sasuke's arms.

"And the elders?" Sasuke's tone was patiently respectful , but the last word was spat out as if it burned him.

Granny Tsunade's tone was dark but confident, "They will be stripped of their power. Konoha will adopt Suna's advisor plan and isolate those two unless they are needed because WE ask for them instead of them insisting we listen."

Naruto remembered Granny Chiyo and how she and her brother had purposefully isolated themselves from the rest of the village. He may not know exactly what had happened during the time he had been controlled, but he knew that a lot of unnecessary carnage had taken place because of their twisted ideals. He decided that he agreed with Granny Tsunade's plan.

"Hn." Sasuke replied. His tone was curt; Naruto could tell that Sasuke thought the punishment was too lenient but had accepted that he could do nothing about it.

Naruto closed his eyes. He felt so close to Sasuke, aside from physically close due to the embrace. It felt like Sasuke had never left! But at the same time, things were different. He felt like he understood Sasuke better now.

He could even translate his monosyllable replies!

"And the bastard?" Sasuke wasn't even bothering to hide his hatred for who Naruto assumed to be Sai.

The killing intent rolled off Sasuke in waves, the aura surrounding them chilling several degrees, causing Naruto to shiver.

Granny Tsunade's voice was serious as she replied, "He and the other members of the squad have been properly arrested and are waiting in the jail cells for their trial. No matter the outcome, they will be stripped of their ANBU status and have a lifelong ban from their ranks."

"That's it?" Sasuke growled in anger.

"The rest is up to the council." Granny Tsunade replied, almost as angrily, but kept it hidden.

'_Why do they hate Sai so much? I thought the elders kept me under Sai's control?'_ Naruto wondered to himself.

"Naruto." Granny Tsunade interrupted his thoughts.

"Eh?" Naruto asked, attempting to free his face so he could see her. Sasuke had recognized this and let go of Naruto's head, but placed his arm on Naruto's back instead.

He saw Granny Tsunade giving him a sympathetic look before she asked, "How long has your head been hurting?"

Naruto's first instinct was to lie; his head did not hurt!

But then he remembered how much the throbbing pain had indeed tested his high pain endurance and the fact that there was little to no use in trying to lie to the old hag when it came to medical stuff he didn't understand.

Naruto's eyes looked downwards.

"After you told me that the magic mirror wasn't a trick." Naruto confessed.

Granny Tsunade nodded as she thought about what he had just said.

"Naruto, I will be setting up appointments for you at the hospital every day for an indefinite period of time."

Naruto's eyes shot up in surprise.

"What? But I'm fine!" he insisted.

Granny Tsunade sadly shook her head, "I'm afraid not. Your mind seems to have repressed all that has happened during the two years and all the memories are trying to return intermediately. Without proper therapy, the shock might be too much for you to handle and could be detrimental to your health."

"But I'll be fine! I'm Naruto Uzumaki! I'm going to be the next Hokage! I can handle whatever I've been put through under Sai's control without therapy!" Naruto insisted.

Instantly, the room became tense after Naruto finished his tirade.

"What? What'd I say?" Naruto asked, looking around for an external reason for the now tense mood.

Everyone he looked at gave him sympathetic looks and badly-hidden sadness and anger.

"What?" Naruto asked, frustrated that no one was giving him answers _again_.

"Tsunade, will you give me a minute alone with him?" Sasuke asked from above him.

Granny Tsunade nodded with a look of understanding in her eyes that infuriated Naruto as it was shared by everyone in the room but him.

Granny Tsunade, Shizune, Kakashi-Sensei, and Sakura all left, constantly giving him glances as if making sure he wasn't disappearing as they themselves disappeared through the double-doors.

Once the doors closed, Naruto angrily turned to Sasuke.

"Teme! What's going on?"

Sasuke took a deep breathe, then a very long pause as if deeply contemplating what words should be said. He was taking too long so Naruto continuously poked him and called out his name, demanding for an answer.

"When you were under the bastard replacement's control…" Sasuke began, causing Naruto to stop demanding for answers and pay attention, "…going on missions was not the only thing that bastard forced you to do…"

"Uhh, Sasuke? Why do you hate Sai so much? I mean, it's not like he did anything to you! He spared your life that one time, remember?" Naruto asked, confused as to why Sasuke refused to call Sai by his name and continuously referred to him as a 'bastard'.

'_Bastard…YOU'RE the Teme!'_ Naruto thought to himself before he was lightly shaken by Sasuke.

"Because, you usuratonkachi! That bastard did something unforgivable! He and that whole fucking Squad of yours!" Sasuke's voice was livid; showing an unusual amount of expression for him.

If Sasuke was showing emotion, then that meant something really big must have happened…

"What did they do?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke swallowed before pulling Naruto back into his tight embrace.

"Hey!" Naruto shouted indignantly. Then he noticed Sasuke shaking in…anger?

Naruto tried to look up, but his head was once more trapped between Sasuke's chest and his hand.

Naruto decided to wait for Sasuke to answer, seeing as bothering him for one did not speed up the process in any way.

"…He raped you."

Naruto was shocked by that answer.

"What?" he asked, because he clearly must have misheard Sasuke. Sai wouldn't do anything like that to him!

"That bastard replacement and the whole squad forced you into an aroused state of mind and forced themselves upon you." Sasuke explained in a dark, low tone.

"You're LYING! Sai would never do that!" Naruto defended, breaking away from Sasuke with great effort.

His headache was starting to return after he broke away, but he paid it no mind; he was too busy searching for the truth in Sasuke's eyes.

Naruto might not have been a pro like Ibiki, but he had learned over the time with Sasuke how to tell when he was lying or not given the right amount of time and close proximity.

As he searched Sasuke's eyes, hazy memories tried to worm their way into Naruto's mind, but he fought past it. He needed to know that Sasuke was lying.

Sasuke stared back into his eyes, allowing Naruto access.

Naruto searched, but saw no hints of Sasuke lying to him.

"No…" Naruto whispered.

Then the memories assaulted him. He saw Sai approaching him with a lustful expression. He saw a naked Sai stripping Naruto of his clothes. He saw Sai and someone else in an ANBU uniform, both approaching him with their arms outstretched. He saw five ANBU members without their pants…

He saw…he saw…

Naruto started to hyperventilate. Images kept violating him, the headache kept attacking him, and the truth kept taunting him.

Naruto wrapped his arms around his head, desperate for the images to leave! Frantic for the pain to GO AWAY!

"No, no, no, no, no…" Naruto chanted as he rocked himself back and forth; back and forth; back and forth.

Sasuke was right. Sai was wrong. His head hurt.

Naruto could barely process what was going on.

He could _feel_ hands all over his body, lips attaching themselves to his skin, other bodies pressed against him.

He felt dirty; tainted. He felt so violated.

He then felt a source of comfort being wrapped around him and he instinctually clung to it, desperate for the pain to leave.

"Shhhhh, shhh, Naruto." Sasuke soothes as he rubbed circles onto Naruto's back and rocked him from side to side in a gentle, calming pace.

"Why?" Naruto rasped weakly. He had to know why. Why would Sai do something like _that_ to him?

Sasuke was silent for a little while, still rubbing soothing circles, and rocking gently from side to side.

Naruto clung to him desperately, he didn't care about the consequences; he just needed his source of comfort.

"The bastard claimed it was for love." Sasuke answered after a long while.

Naruto stiffened.

"WHAT?" he shouted, luckily his head didn't hurt, but it was filled with confusion, "Sai…did THAT….to me out of…out of LOVE?"

Sasuke didn't say anything, probably because he recognized that Naruto needed to straighten out his jumbled thoughts.

All of the images in his head that refused to leave scared Naruto to the core. How could anybody _do_ that? How could they violate someone against their will? How could they be completely FINE with what they were doing?

'_Kami…maybe I DO need therapy_…' Naruto admitted to himself as the images swirled in his head despite his best efforts to not think about them. But trying to not think about them only made Naruto think about them more!

But THAT wasn't love! Sai violating him like that was definitively not love.

"It's not love…" Naruto mumbled into Sasuke's chest, clinging to him, trying to get rid of the feeling of hands covering his body.

"No, it's not." Sasuke agreed above his head, resting his cheek on Naruto's hair.

"L-love isn't…THAT!" Naruto couldn't bring himself to say what that was, "Love is…love is…"

"This." Sasuke said firmly above him.

"What?" Naruto asked, completely bewildered by what he just heard.

Sasuke tightened his grip around Naruto, pulling his body closer so Naruto could feel Sasuke's heart beating.

"This is love." Sasuke told Naruto in a firm tone that left no room for doubting his words.

Naruto didn't speak. He didn't dare to move. This was all a dream.

This was all too good to be true, so clearly it wasn't reality.

He most likely never finished his training with Kurama, he was still sixteen years old and Sasuke still hated him.

But if it was a dream, then maybe it was like the one he had with Sasuke visiting him at Kurama's cage, where dream-Sasuke had been all touchy-feely.

He knew that he couldn't handle a rejection from Sasuke, but if it was a dream, then there'd be no harm in asking what Sasuke meant, right?

"It is?" Naruto quietly asked into Sasuke's chest. He knew his voice was vulnerable as hell, but he didn't care. After all, it was all a dream.

"Hn." Sasuke confirmed, placing a kiss atop Naruto's head, "I love you, Naruto."

Naruto felt his eyes water. He had waited for so, so many years to hear those words; wishing for Sasuke to say those words too many times to count.

"You…you do?" Naruto asked in a watery voice; he was close to crying in happiness.

"I love you, Naruto. So much." Sasuke whispered; his voice sincere.

"I love you, too." Naruto confessed, truly happy that he could say these words to Sasuke, even if it was dream-Sasuke.

"You do?" this time Sasuke was the one to ask, he sounded honestly surprised but genuinely happy.

Naruto nodded his head against his chest, then sighed, "This is the best dream I've ever had."

Sasuke stiffed against him, then he pulled Naruto away from himself at arm's length, both hands [laced on Naruto's shoulders.

"You think this is a dream?" Sasuke glared at him, his eyes held anger that Naruto doubted that his words were real.

"Well, yeah. I'm probably still training with Kyuubi. But don't worry, as soon as I'm done, I'll bring you back home." Naruto said with conviction.

Instead of denying or confirming, Sasuke surprised Naruto once again.

Sasuke kissed Naruto.

Sasuke pulled Naruto closer to him, placed a hand on the back of Naruto's head again, and gently guided Naruto's head to his so he could kiss him.

The kiss was soft, a gentle promise that everything Sasuke had said was true; that this was all real.

Naruto remembered Sasuke kissing him after their last battle. He remembered Sasuke telling him how much he loved Naruto before dispelling the control jutsu.

It wasn't like the other memories that plagued Naruto's mind. These memories were warm, they brought Naruto happiness. And above all, they proved to Naruto beyond a shadow of a doubt that everything was real.

This wasn't a dream.

Sasuke was really here, really kissing him.

Sasuke really loved him.

Naruto broke off the kiss, staring into Sasuke's eyes.

"It's real?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke nodded his head.

"I was really controlled?"

Sasuke nodded his head again.

"S-Sai…really...THAT?" Naruto stuttered.

Sasuke's expression darkened, but he nodded once more.

"And…you really…love me?" Naruto asked, his eyes sparkling with hope.

Sasuke smiled.

He pulled Naruto closer so that their foreheads were touching.

He stared into Naruto's eyes, still smiling.

"I love you."

Naruto burst with a watery smile, his eyes shedding proof of his euphoric feelings.

Naruto closed the distance between their lips and kissed him, proving his own love for Sasuke.

He knew that he could get past anything and everything in his past, present, and future.

As long as he had Sasuke with him.

Sasuke returned the kiss with a gentle vigor. An unspoken promise that he would stay with Naruto every step of the way.

Forever.

THE END

* * *

><p><strong>And that was the story!<strong>

**I kinda regret making 13 the magic number for the ending and declaring it as such last chapter because it took sooooooo long to write this one! Its 29 pages! My longest chapter for any story yet.**

**Anyways, guess what? There WILL be a sequel for The Ultimate Weapon. I'm still working out the plot details and name, but I do know that it will generally focus on how Naruto experienced his time being controlled and moving on.**

**Thank you for staying with me for so long and please continue to read future stories. And review!**


	14. SEQUEL

**Sequel News!**

**A date has finally been set! After a while of waiting, the sequel you have been waiting for will be posted on ****September 1****ST****!**

**I apologize for the wait for those who have been waiting impatiently and I hope that the patience will pay off.**

**The story will be called ****The Ultimate Rebirth**

**I'm a bit nervous because I'm assuming that there will be a lot of expectations for this story and there are a few lingering questions or requests, so please ask away and if it is a question then I'll try my best to give the answer in the new story and if it is a request, I will take it into consideration but I warn in advance that I do not do pairing requests, sorry.**

**Haha, I had originally told myself that I wouldn't do a notice like this, obstinately believing that if people wanted to read the sequel then they would just have to check up later and hope for the best since A/N chapter updates aggravate me to no end, but writing out the plot sequence for myself took longer than expected and I refused to start without knowing the plot since there is so much expectation. Plus, people had Alerted this story after it was done so some were obviously waiting for such a notice *shrugs* Aaaaaaaaand I can blame my Muse as she thrives on knowing people read what she writes and we want many peoples to read the sequel.**

**Anyway, the point is: The Ultimate Rebirth will be posted on September 1****st****, so please read it and if you have any questions do not be afraid to ask.**


End file.
